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ANTHROPOMORPHISM DISSECTED, 



SPIRITUALISM VINDICATED. 



DIXON L. DAVIS, M. D 



When man is taught that his spiritual is, as his physical nature, governed hy fixed 
1 aws, then superstition will die, and a rational system of mental philosophy prevail in its 



BOSTON: 
PUBLISHED BY BELA MARSH, 

.14 BEOMPIELD STREET. 
1859. 



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KIE8S OF THH 

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Corner of Franklin and Hawley Streets, 

BOSTOM. 



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AND ESPECIALLY OF 

SOUTH CAROLINA, 

ABB THESE TWO ESSAYS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED, WITH A HOPE THAT 

THEY MAY AWAKEN IN THEM A Sl'IRIT OF INQUIRY, IS THE 

EARNEST DESIRE OF 

THE AUTHOR. 



INTRODUCTION 



The causes which lead me to compose and publish this work are 
these : When nearly eighteen years old, my friend, Cyrus S. Green- 
leaf, of Cross Anchor, S. C, presented me a copy of the American 
Phrenological Journal, with a request to become a subscriber. On 
perusing its colums, I found many truths plainly demonstrated, which 
I had often thought to be rational, but I had been debarred from a 
thorough investigation by sectarian prejudice. I immediately sub- 
scribed, and in a few months a new world of thought shone in upon 
me. I procured the works of George Combe, and others published 
by Fowler & Wells, and soon determined to attend a course of lectures 
on Phrenology, to be delivered in Poughkeepsie, N. Y., by the Messrs. 
Fowler. But on arriving in New York City, I learned that the course 
of lectures would not be delivered. I then entered the New York 
Hydropathic College, and remained more than a year in attendance 
on a course of instruction in that institution. About this time 
Spiritualism was frequently discussed in the parlors, which led me to 
some thoughts on that subject. 

My first Sunday morning in the great metropolis was spent in rov- 
ing up and down Broadway to gratify my curiosity ; and my readers 
can easily imagine the appearance I made. When nearly exhausted 
from fatigue, 1 espied a sign with this inscription : " Egyptian Mu- 
seum," and several persons passing in and out of the room indicated 
by the sign. I entered, and beheld what I never did before. It was 
a man entranced, and uttering, in eloquent strains, the most sublime 
ideas I ever heard. I learned that this was the Spiritualists' meeting 
room, and from that time I became a constant attendant. In this 
room, Tiffany, Davis, Miss Emma Hardinge, and others, expounded 
the most sublime, truthful, and profound Philosophy that has ever 
been offered to the world. 

It recalled to my mind the pleasant idea which I had formed of 
Aristotle's Lyceum — where ideas were entertained and exchanged 
as free as the gentle zephyrs moving among the garlands and ever- 
greens, and as pleasingly as the silvery rivulet dashes its sparkling 
spray, in gentle accents, against the sandy beach. 



VI INTRODUCTION. 

I visited mediums, and witnessed tests ; procured Spiritual litera- 
ture, and found it consistent and philosophical. On my return home 
I related my experience and expounded my philosophy to many of my 
friends ; but the preachers were suddenly convulsed, and shook their 
congregations from centre to circumference with vehement creaks of 
warning, — telling them not to listen to such devilisms. 

About this time there was considerable talk and some excitement 
relative to the works of Elder Graves and Parson Brownlow, which 
led me to think of the practicability of a work to be entitled " Review 
of Ideas Afloat." 

I wrote several chapters of this work ; but owing to the pressure of 
my professional engagements, and to my having made arrangements 
to visit Cincinnati for the purpose of further pursuing my medical 
studies, I was forced to abandon its completion and publication. 

While in Cincinnati, I found that Spiritualism was on the increase, 
and witnessed more tests of its facts. In my tour homewards I made a 
short stay in New York, and found that Spiritualism had rapidly ad- 
vanced. The abuses which I received from the pulpit on arriving at 
home, induced me to publish an Essay on Sectarianism, by which I 
hoped to effect a quietus. But what was my surprise to find the secular 
papers shutting their advertising columns against me ! I was denied 
the liberty of advertising in their columns. On soliciting the editors 
oft he " Spartansburg Express" to advertise it, they replied " We can- 
not, consistent with our notions of duty and the responsibility of our 
position, agree to advertise your work." 

Thus perceiving the bigotry and depravity which mentally reigned 
through our country, I thought it my duty to compose and publish this 
work. It is a lamentable fact, but it is true, that there is but one 
liberal press in South Carolina, and that one is the " Walhalla Ban- 
ner ;" and its worthy editor, Joel H. Clayton, deserves the respect 
and patronage of those who are, and those who would be mentally 
free. I think the argument presented in this work cannot be success- 
fully refuted ; if it can, I hope it will be, for none hate error more 
than I do. I appeal to the liberal public to sustain me in my endea- 
vors, — for I know I shall receive the anathemas and denunciations 
of the bigoted and popular. d. l. d. 



PREFACE 



All persons should have an object as the highest aim of life, to 
which they should contribute, with the expectation of promoting its 
welfare. If that object be the gratification of the animal nature, its 
results are seen in debauchery, fornication, and misery ; if it is cen- 
tered in acquisitiveness, the results are seen in the miser, in distress, 
in want ; if it is centered in the intellectual nature, in the herding 
around of books, pamphlets, and scientific works of such matter as is 
peculiarly adapted to the department of science which is endeavoring 
to be comprehended and unfolded ; if that object be a moral one, its 
effects will be seen in alms- giving, in endeavoring to suppress pain, 
promote happiness, and diffuse moral ethics. This is the highest 
object to which we can aspire ; yet man is a religious being, but can 
come into divine favor only by subjection, and when attempts to, in 
an objective sense, he is worshipping an idea of his own construction, 
and must, of course, fall short of his anticipations. It is beyond the 
capacity of the intellect to perceive the Infinite, the Eternal, the 
Divine ; for as intellect is a relation and finite, it of course becomes 
subject to the Absolute. 

All authors have objects in writing. Some notoriety, others 
acquisition, duty, vindication, and love for human advancement and 
improvement. I have written this little work. My object could not 
have been acquisition, for the expenditure necessary to get it up will 
exceed the income. It could not have been the love of approbation, 
for as I was esteemed as kind and intellectual before writing, now I 
am considered a desperado and a maniac ; yet I have written. Why, 
says one, you do not believe in eternal misery, and what induces you 
to spend your time and money so unprofitably ? Yes, says another, 
you deny God and the Bible, and must surely pass into the portals of 
eternal misery ! Not so, my friends ; I only deny Anthropomorphism. 

The Eternal God, 

" Warms in the sun, refreshes in the breeze, 
Glows in the stars and blossoms in the trees, 
Lives through all life, extends through all extent, 
Spreads undivided, operates unspent." 



Vlll PREFACE. 

Yes, wherever we go there will we find him, for we cannot flee 
from his presence. " If we ascend up to heaven ; if we make our 
bed in hell ; if we take the wings of the morning and fly to the 
uttermost parts of the earth," there he is recording our acts and 
rewarding our motives. He is the great consciousness within us, 
the stupendous ruler, judging and to judge. He is ever present when 
we are conscious, ever absent in his higher manifestations when we 
are unconscious. 

But for advocating this doctrine, am I to be dubbed the " Pan- 
theistic Dick," as Mr. Paine was the "Infidel Tom," by religious 
bigots. 

But, 

Priests, vain men, 
Dressed in a little brief authority, 
Play such fantastic tricks before high heaven, 
As make the angels weep. 

I have written my essays in the same spirit that Mr. Paine wrote 
his works, viz : that of a consciousness of doing my duty. The 
enthusiasm and zeal which burnt in Paine's soul, caused him to flee 
his mother country and join against her in the glorious cause of free- 
dom. We find him the author hero of our Revolution. In the time 
that tried men's souls, he penned " The Crisis" and "Common 
Sense." Not satisfied as long as tyranny prevailed, he embarked in 
the French struggle for liberty, in vindication of which he penned 
" The Rights of Man." But, alas! his " Age of Reason" came 
before reason entered the minds of men, and theologians, unable to 
combat it, in their last frenzied hopes, sought to destroy his character, 
thereby hoping to invalidate the testimony of his reason. I shall ever 
contend the cause in which Mr. Paine took so decisive a part, was of 
heaven, most heavenly, of God, most godly. 

I should think I was fulfilling the requirements of high heaven, 
did I nothing else than constantly vindicate the character, the virtue, 
the talent, of so good and wise a man as Thomas Paine, from the 
scurrilous abuse of religious friars, priests, and monks. I quote from 
his introduction to the prophecies. He says, " The prejudices of 
unfounded belief often degenerate into the prejudice of custom, and 
becomes, at last, rank hypocrisy J When men, from custom, or 
fashion, or any worldly motive, profess or pretend to believe what 
they do not believe, nor can give any reason for believing, they unship 
the helm of their morality ; and being no longer honest to their own 
minds, they feel no moral difficulty in being unjust to others. It is 
from the influence of this vice, hypocrisy, that we see so many 



PREFACE IX 

church and meeting-going professors and pretenders to religion, so 
full of tricks and deceit in their dealings, and so loose in the per- 
formance of their engagements, that they are not to be trusted 
farther than the laws of the country will bind them. Morality has 
no hold on their minds, no restraint on their actions. *X)ne set of 
preachers makes salvation to consist in believing. They tell their 
congregations, that if they believe in Christ, their sins shall be for- 
given. This, in the first place, is en«ouragement to sin ; in a similar 
manner as when a prodigal young fellow is told his father will pay 
all his debts, he runs into debt the faster, and becomes the more 
extravagant. Daddy, says he, pays all, and on he goes. Just so in 
the other case, Christ pays all, and on goes the sinner. 

" In the next place, the doctrine these men preach is not true. 
The New Testament rests itself for credulity and testimony on what 
are called prophecies in the Old Testament, of the person called Jesus 
Christ ; and if there are no such thing as prophecies of any such per- 
son in the Old Testament, the New Testament is a forgery of the 
councils of Nice and Laodicea, and the faith founded thereon, 
delusion and falsehood. 

" Another set of preachers tell their congregations that God pre- 
destined and elected from all eternity, a certain number to be saved 
and a certain number to be damned eternally. If this were true, 
the day of judgment is past ; their preaching is in vain, and they had 
better work at some useful calling for their livelihood. This doc- 
trine, also, like the former, has a direct tendency to demoralize man- 
kind. Can a bad man be reformed by telling him, that if he is one of 
those who was decreed to be damned before he was born, his reforma- 
tion will do him no good ; and if he was decreed to be saved, he will 
be saved whether he believes it or not ; for this is the result of the 
doctrine. Such preaching and such preachers do injury to the 
moral world. They had better be at the plough. 

" As in rny political works, my motive and object have been to give 
man an elevated sense of his own character, and free him from the 
slavish and superstitious absurdity of monarchy and hereditary 
government, so in my publications on religious subjects, my endeavors 
have been directed to bring man to a right use of his reason that God 
has given him ; to impress on him the great principles of divine 
morality, justice, mercy, and a benevolent disposition to all men, and 
to all creatures, and to inspire in him a spirit of trust, confidence, 
and consolation in his creator, unshackled by the fables of books 
pretending to be the Word of God." 



X PREFACE. 

I have carefully studied the many theologies, and have examined 
the doctrines of philosophers, hoping to arrive at truth in my investi- 
gations. The system of Spinoza is unobjectionable, and from his 
premises and well defined positions we cannot desist. Yet, in our 
day, we have definitions which are more appropriate to us ; though I 
cannot but incline towards the doctrine of Anaxagoras and Democri- 
tus. The positive philosophy of Auguste Comte is partially objec- 
tionable, his conclusions, in many instances, are not warranted from 
his premises. The doctrines of Schelling, Cousin, Emerson, and 
Strauss, are but modifications of the Pantheism of Spinoza. 

The author of " Vestiges " mistook primary effects for first causes ; 
and had he more carefully defined his positions, his doctrine would 
have succeeded better. 

Volney's and Combe's theory of development by natural laws, is 
founded on observation, and is highly appreciated by all thinking 
minds. In fact, all the genera, with their species, which Professor 
Buchanan calls Atheistic, are interwoven, for they spring from a com- 
mon source — observation and reflection ; and stand in opposition to 
the doctrine of revelation which came from the superstitious ages. 
Holyoke's Secularism, or theory of Skepticism, is borrowed from the 
ancients, who neither affirmed nor denied ; because the evidences 
were not sufficient. This is a rational doctrine, and one in whose 
ranks I remained for some time. I often think I had better have re- 
mained there, for to affirm what I know is contrary to orthodoxy, is 
to be mocked and laughed at by nearly all. 

But modern Spiritualism has revealed to me truths which I now 
possess ; and though opinions may take from me my reputation, yet 
my character is unhurt. Reputation belongs to the people, character 
belongs to me and God ; yet it is innate in man to desire the good 
will and respect of his fellow-beings around him. Theologians should 
consider well before they blast the reputation of those who conscien- 
tiously differ with them in opinion. They should ponder well the 
words of the immortal Shakspeare : 

"Who steals my purse, steals trash; 'tis something, nothing; 
'T was mine, 'tis his, and has heen slave to thousands ; 
But he, that filches from me my good name, 
Robs me of that which not enriches him, 
And makes me poor indeed." 

This little volume cannot but do good. If its reasoning is true, it 
will change the errors of those minds which are now in darkness ; if 
it is erroneous, it will vanish as the morning dew before the sun, 
when pure philosophy is brought to bear ; thereby awakening in the 



PREFACE. XI 

minds of men a spirit of investigation and honest inquiry, which can 
but result in much good. 

The immortal Voltaire says, " Without philosophy, we shoiild be 
little above the animals that dig or erect their habitations, pre- 
pare their food in them, take care of their little ones in their dwellings, 
and have, besides, the good fortune which we have not, of being born 
ready clothed." 

That great poet, John Milton, in his aspirations says : 

" How charming is divine Philosophy ! 
Not harsh and crabbed, as dull fools suppose, 
But musical as is Apollo's lute, 
And a perpetual feast of nectar'd sweets, 
Where no crude surfeit reigns." 

O, glorious Philosophy ! thou guide of our affections, and servant of 
our being ; the finger of G od ; the link between the finite and the 
Infinite ; the " cloud by day and pillar of fire by night," as thou 
hangest about our pathway, and illuminest our understanding, let us 
sing anthems of glory to thee, as by thy teachings do we know that 

" Whatever is, is right," 

and the immutable God cannot make it otherwise ; for if we estimate 
the will of God as infinite, there can be nothing outside that will to 
change the order of nature ; and as soon as we doubt his infinite con- 
trol and infinite power, we wreck all faith in the government of the 
universe by his immutable order. 

Dixon Louis Davis. 



ANTHROPOMORPHISM DISSECTED. 



Man, as he stands at the head of created beings, presents to 
the philosopher and scientist a broad field for intellectual re- 
search and sublime contemplation. Philosophers of past ages 
viewed, with untold admiration, the creature man. The mid- 
night oil was consumed as they endeavored, in silent meditation, 
to elucidate the nature of his existence. 

As he merged from darkness and ignorance, in which he first 
beheld himself, and became conscious that he possessed an ex- 
istence superior to his physical nature, all the powers of his 
soul were intensified in endeavoring to comprehend that exist- 
ence. The powerful intellects of Voltaire, Reid, Locke, and 
Gall, did not then exist to philosophize, nor did the penetrating 
and classifying mind of George Combe, which sparkled in his 
own day like rubies before mid-heaven's sun, intervene in their 
behalf; because their intellectual unfoldings were limited and 
could not transcend their legitimate sphere. In that existence 
is a principle from whence the universe came, and into which 
the universe is destined to return. I mean that principle of 
self-consciousness, self-existence, which actuates every immortal 
being. That infinite, omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent 
principle which has been idealized and called God, by every 
nation under the wide canopy of heaven, and is still idealized 
by every nation on the face of the earth, whether it be Pagan, 
Mohammedan, Christian, or Jew. Unto that principle shall 
every couscious existence return ; for were it otherwise, its 
design would be defeated, and if oven one conscious soul were 



14 ANTHROPOMORPHISM DISSECTED. 

lost in the fires of hell, spirits in heaven would weep tears 
enough to extinguish the flames, and that poor soul be triumph- 
antly wafted into the courts of heaven on the tips of angels' 
wings. 

I shall endeavor, in this part of my essay, to dissect 
anthropomorphism, by analyzing and demonstrating to your 
mind the absurdity of that doctrine which teaches the exist- 
ence of a God, outside of, and foreign to matter. 

That we may proceed methodically, we will classify the hu- 
man mind, and present the conditions of its existence, its lia- 
bility and tendency to err, and a standard by which we may 
determine the true from the false. 

Man can know nothing but his own consciousness. 

If any are disposed to doubt this axiomatic truth, let them 
disprove it if they can. Then as we can know nothing but 
our consciousness, let us classify and arrange it in its several 
orders and relations. 

First. The mind has two grand principles known as Per- 
ception and Affection, which we will call, for convenience, Un- 
derstanding and Love. Each of these is divided in its several 
groups. In the understanding, we have seeing, memory, and 
conception. In the Love, we have physical, social, and moral 
natures, all of which are connected and bound by inseparable 
ties to that nature which respects justice and right, hopes to 
realize, and venerates the true and the useful. 

The several organs which compose the groups, have their 
respective functions, and are related to the external world by 
their respective laws. Obedience to these laws, or a harmo- 
nious relation thereto, begets an agreeable, pleasant sensation, 
which we call happiness; and a violation of, or an improper 
relation to these laws, begets a disagreeable, painful sensation, 
which we call misery. Hence, as man is a creature of circum- 
stances, he is happy or miserable according to the respective 
relations within himself. 

As the development of these groups depends on the true or 
false relation to external objects, we shall examine the means 



ANTHROPOMORPHISM DISSECTED. 15 

by which they are so related, and whether that relation be true 
or false. 

We are brought into relation to the external world by means 
of our senses. All sensations are received directly by our af- 
fections, while all cognizable objects are perceived and regis- 
tered in the memory, after which they may be conceived, 
arranged and classified according to the capacity of our con- 
ception and reason. Now as the understanding is the guide of 
the affections, it is of the utmost importance that we perceive 
truly, for if we perceive not at all, we are blind leaders of the 
blind ; and if we perceive falsely, we lead ourselves into error. 
Then the question arises, what is truth, and how may we dis- 
tinguish between it and error ? 

When we are brought into relation to external objects by 
the medium of light, we have engrafted in our minds ideas ; 
and when those ideas or images correspond to the real without, 
then we have the truth in respect to those objects ; or when 
we have the actual and real in nature engrafted into the per- 
ceptive and ideal of mind, then we have the truth. Truth, 
then, is the perception by the mind of that which really exists. 
Having thus perceived, we learn from the great teacher, expe- 
rience, the relation to those objects, and regulate ourselves ac- 
cordingly. Hence knowledge is indispensable to happiness. 
We believe and hope, because we do not know, for when we 
have knowledge, belief dies and hope vanishes*. 

As man derived his existence from the laws of progressive 
development, in his rudimental state, we find him possessing 
the lowest degree of mentality. He merely perceives those 
objects presented to his physical senses, and is conscious of the 
demands of his body as it instinctively informs him of its ne- 
cessities. This nature is possessed by the animal creation. 

But as we advance in the scale of progression, we find new 
births and functions springing into existence, each presenting 
to us a higher order of development, and that order plainly 
foreshows another order, which will be evolved when the 
condition of its existence is attained. 



16 ANTHROPOMORPHISM DISSECTED. 

We find man possessing a social nature and memory, and 
likewise find that nature possessed by the animal creation. 
But advancing a degree further, we find man possessing a 
moral nature and reason, which are not possessed by the 
animal; and still advancing, we find in man a self-conscious- 
ness and conception, which makes him independent of the body 
in which he lives, and predicts for him a spiritual existence 
beyond the grave. 

Each organ of the mind exists in one of two conditions, 
which we will call natural and unnatural, or love and lust. 
When the natural or love condition exists, we use the organ 
only to the requirements of nature, to supply its needs. When 
the unnatural or lust condition exists, we use the organ not 
only to supply its needs, but for gratification, to appease a 
perverse desire. 

In the love condition, we are but fulfilling the ends of our 
existence, and beget therefrom a healthy, harmonious action, a 
pure mind, and an agreeable disposition. In the lust condition, 
we beget a polluted body, a diseased, inharmonious action, 
and impure mind, and a peevish disposition. These conditions 
are sometimes called pure and impure, temperate and intem- 
perate, moral and immoral, virtue and vice, good and evil. 
They were personified by the Persians and called Ormudze 
and Arhiman, by the Jews called Grod and Devil, and by some 
metaphysical writers, they are called Christ and Adam. As 
in Adam all is dead, i. e. impure, vicious, and knows not the 
joys and pleasures of happiness and morality ; so in Christ 
shall all be made alive, i. e, by coming out of their lusts and 
impurity, into the love, pure, and virtuous condition, in which 
they will enjoy the pleasures of unspeakable bliss in an eternity 
which knows no end. 

The consequences attending those conditions are shown in 
the lives of Abel and Cain, and by individuals being bound in 
prison, who are released by the quickening of the spirit. 
Allegories and metaphors have been used to illustrate the man- 
ner of passing from the lust into the love condition, by going 



ANTHROPOMORPHISM DISSECTED. 17 

from a land of bondage, through wilderness and seas, over into 
a promised land, which is but the Christ condition. 

Eighteen hundred years ago, Jesus, the son of a poor car- 
penter, perceived, at one intuitional glance, the depraved and 
wretched condition of mankind. They were ignorant and 
lustful, and knew not how to do better if they desired. Jesus, 
observing this state of human existence, and possessing a heart 
overflowing with love and philanthropy, set about to overcome 
this condition. He possessed a pure and spotless mind, so free 
from the contaminations by which he was surrounded, that he 
has been called, by many, Christ. He began his teaching by 
giving a code of laws, or moral ethics, which is recorded in the 
fifth chapter of Matthew. Being uneducated and poor, he 
had to give by example that which he could not transmit by 
writing. 

Seeing the great and stupendous universe before him, and 
the gradation of its development, taking one expansive glance 
at the harmony of its structure, the wisdom of its creation, 
then directing his thoughts within, he perceived that man was 
but a universe in miniature, an epitome, a macrocosm. 

Within man, he found both the mortal and the immortal, the 
natural and the Divine ; and all that is necessary to make man 
a child of God, is to arrange his natures and make them har- 
monious, even as his Father in heaven is harmonious. Jesus 
being harmonious, is presented as the only begotten son of the 
universal Father, because no other had attained to his con- 
dition. He presents himself as an example to all men, and 
instructs them how they may arrive at the same condition, if 
they will only observe the requirements of the laws which 
govern them. He instructs by saying, they were all God's, 
and to those who had ears to hear, and eyes to see, if they 
would only listen and perceive, even as great things as he did, 
should they do also. We find among us many who repudiate 
the idea of ever attaining to the condition of Jesus, but this 
opposition is in defiance of the teachings of Jesus himself. He 
presents himself as tne way, the gate through which we may 
2* 



18 ANTHROPOMORPHISM DISSECTED. 

pass from the earth] y courts to the courts of Heaven. It only 
remained for his ignorant biographers and commentators to 
present his ignominious death and sufferings, as a token of 
respect, sufficient for us to believe him Divine, and for that 
belief we are to be made perfect. He presents his life, (not his 
death,) as a map and chart, which is a guide to future bliss, 
and they will first obtain the reward, not who know the way, 
but follow it. 

That his associates did not understand his design and pur- 
pose, is seen in many instances. Peter, one of his boasted 
followers, in defiance of his teachings, that, "he who takes the 
sword shall perish by it," carried about his person a huge 
weapon, and when the chief priest's servant addressed Jesus, 
Peter dealt him a severe blow. Most of his followers thought 
his mission was to rear a temporal kingdom. This was the 
prevailing idea, till the preaching On the day of Pentecost, 
when they were informed that his intentions were to build up 
a spiritual kingdom, which blasted their hopes of a temporal 
deliverance from the Koman government, and caused them to 
cry out, " What shall we do to be saved ? " 

I would not have any to receive my ipse dixit on the philos- 
ophy of Jesus as infallible ; but I do affirm, in all candor and 
truth, this to be the only rational doctrine of the mission of 
Jesus, and if it is discarded, Christianity rests on no better 
grounds than paganism and idolatrous worship. 

Again, we have presented the mind in its various classifica- 
tions, and it now remains for us to show their relation, and the 
reciprocity of action which exists between them. The office of 
the affections is to feel, and that of the understanding to recog- 
nize, and we desire and delight in those occupations which 
bring us in direct relation with that department of mind which 
is the most strongly developed. Hence it is we see persons 
choosing different occupations for a livelihood, and each is con- 
tented in his own sphere. In intellectual pursuits, we find 
men governed by similar laws. We receive our knowledge 
through three media, i. e., sight, sound, and touch ; while sen- 



ANTHROPOMORPHISM DISSECTED. 19 

sation is received through touch, taste, smelling, intuition from 
the understanding, sight and sound, are reflected, and become 
sensatory. We experience sensation only through relations ; 
and as relations are but the result of conditions which are not 
abstract entities, hence the inability of mind to perceive it. 
We can perceive that which has properties, and that only. 
When we endeavor to perceive our feelings, we are attempting 
an impossibility ; and the meandering scenes in which the mind 
is constantly wandering, too often leads us into error, yea, 
error which takes possession of our inmost soul, and is incor- 
porated into our being, clings with such tenacity that we 
would rather die than part with our cherished idol. 

In our common occupations, we are brought, by the medium 
of sight, directly into relation with the world about us, and 
have ingrafted in our minds those objects around, such as trees, 
houses, animals, etc. ; and when an occurrence transpires be- 
yond our vision, as is related to us by an individual, we per- 
ceive it only by his awakening certain ideas in our minds, 
which we arrange so as to form a general idea of the occur- 
rence. His relation of the occurrence becomes to us a fact, 
and we know it only as such. Hence the absurdity of trying 
to force the authority of men upon us as Divine Truth. 

We can know nothing which transcends our mental unfold- 
ings, and one cause of so much mental depravity among us is 
occasioned by trying to teach authority instead of truth. I 
feel that the greatest responsibility which 1 owe to God and 
myself is, the destruction of authority, as it now rules in the 
affairs of men. I shall ever be found in the ranks of the lovers 
of truth, fearlessly battling for mental liberty. The minds of 
men have ever been chained in mental servitude, and it is time 
that we should clothe ourselves in the sacred habiliments of 
truth, and declare in public places, the right of free and fear- 
less investigation. We must investigate ourselves, investigate 
others, and investigate the relations that bind society together. 
We should adopt an equitable commerce, on the principle of 
cost, the limit of price, then we would begin to establish the 



20 ANTHROPOMORPHISM DISSECTED. 

true relation between man and man. Then study yourself. 
The very first volume that is opened before us is that which 
God has given us in giving us a conscious being. Here we 
must commence our first lesson ; because every thing must be 
recorded in the pages of this volume. Grod can never manifest 
any part of the universe, or himself to us beyond the capacity of 
the pages of this volume to receive that manifestation, It fol- 
lows, then, as a matter of course, that truth can never be commu- 
nicated by authority ; and when a man tells me that a certain 
thing is true upon his authority, I cannot receive it simply upon 
his authority. You will understand that I distinguish between 
stating a truth and narrating a fact. I may receive a state- 
ment of a fact upon authority. 

A man may tell me there is such a place as London, and I 
believe it, and I may form an idea respecting it ; but the ideal 
London which I have in my mind is very far from being the 
real London, is very far from being a representation of 
the real London. That is the ideal London which I have only 
in my mind, and has no representative corresponding with out- 
ward matter-of-fact London. But when the real London is 
brought into my consciousness, I have the London. Before, I 
saw a sort of a London. Now you will understand what is 
meant by a difference between forming a conception of a fact 
and a truth. Suppose I should say to you that the sum of the 
squares of the two sides of a right-angled triangle, is equal to 
the square of its hypothenuse, you, having faith in my capacity 
to determine truth, will say, " I will believe it as a fact ; but I 
have no conception of its truth — I only have your word for it. 
Now your faith is not in the truth of the proposition, but in 
my word. There is a truth in there, but you cannot receive 
it upon my authority. The reception of it as a truth, depends 
upon your mind's being unfolded to the plane of that truth. 
The question then for us to settle is, whether the conception in 
our minds corresponds to the actuality. If we have the means 
of determining that it does correspond then we have the 
means of determining that our perception is true. 



ANTHROPOMORPHISM DISSECTED. 21 

You may apply this rule to any sphere of investigation that 
you please. Then let us begin with man as a microcosm of 
the universe, and who is destined in his spiritual unfolding, to 
be a microcosm of all that is in the universe; in other words, 
whose mind here is to begin to translate the universe into 
its consciousness. •'The universe is a great book, which it is 
man's business to read and translate into his consciousness, so 
that the image within shall correspond to the actuality with- 
out ; so that he shall be a universe of himself, — so that the 
individual in his affection, by that which is transferred, also 
becomes a divine, a God. " Is it not written in your law, I 
said ye are gods." Man is to become, in his impulses and 
character, like the Divine of the Universe, so that he has, not 
only the wisdom, fact, and principle, but all the affection of 
the universe, to wit. : the Divine translated into his affections, 
so that in his outward form and inward being, he is a child of 
God, created in his image."^ ^ 

Far be this from the teachings of Anthropomorphism. Its 
aims are not to arrive at truth and goodness by careful inves- 
tigation and study, but it endeavors to force its dogmas upon 
us with the motto, " take them or be damned," and if you do 
not believe as we do, you are infidels, and subject to the wrath 
of a sin-avenging God." That credulity is overcome by care- 
ful investigation, is known by priests and religious bigots; 
hence their" opposition to criticism and logical investigation is 
seen by all, and many wonder at such strange things ; but if 
they will probe human nature to the bottom, their surprise will 
be removed, by finding this opposition to be caused by lust and 
selfishness ; for they well know, if we prove their doctrines to 
be false, on which they depend for a living, that " their occu- 
pation's gone." 

H. Seaver says, " Well, it was a maxim of Jefferson's that, 
4 error of opinion may be safely tolerated, when reason is left 
free to combat it.' " If Infidel opinions are wrong, let them 

* Tiffany on the Determination of Truth. 



22 ANTHROPOMORPHISM DISSECTED. 

be assailed by reason, but let not those who entertain them be 
punished by government, for this is to deny the liberty of con- 
science, and to deprive men of one of the greatest rights they 
possess. There can be no middle ground here, for there can 
be no legal exemption claimed for opinions. If Christians are 
at liberty, as they ought to be, to discuss the sentiments of In- 
fidels, the Infidels should be allowed the same liberty, in dis- 
cussing the sentiments of Christians. All freedom of opinion 
will be destroyed, unless opinions may be freely and boldly 
examined. If they are correct, they will stand the test. If 
they are erroneous, the sooner they are exploded, by the power 
of reason, the better it will be for the cause of truth and hu- 
man improvement. 

Adopting these premises, I shall now proceed to prove by 
reason and by history, what I have affirmed: that all gods 
have their origin in the minds of men, and that Anthropomor- 
phism received its germ of existence in ignorance and super- 
stition, and has advanced to respectability in accordance with 
the laws of intellectual development. 

Man, conscious of a divine impulse within him, has endeav- 
ored to comprehend that impulse, and in so doing has idealized 
the Infinite — brought Infinity and Omnipotence in to the range 
of intellectual grasp, and hence it is that the objects of adora- 
tion in Paganism and Christianity differ only in degree, and 
not in kind. The Christian is not conscious, that when he offers 
up his prayers to Jehovah, he is but worshipping an idol of his 
own construction, which is the same with the Pagan when he 
worships Jupiter. 

In the early ages of mental development, when intelligence 
had not advanced beyond its perception and memory, man could 
not comprehend and idealize his religious nature beyond that 
sphere ; hence his construction of material images out of wood 
and stone, and his proportioning them according to his highest 
ideal. But as mind progressed in its unfoldings, a higher de- 
gree of ideas was attained, and we have those material images 
refined and polished. Onward the mind marched in its unfold- 



ANTHROPOMORPHISM DISSECTED. 23 

ings, and another class of ideas, superior to the preceding, was 
developed. Still advancing, the mind has arrived at that de- 
gree of intelligence which enables man to form ideas and clas- 
sify them in his mind. Perceiving demands in the different 
departments of his affection, he supposed there was a god to 
administer to those desires, and accordingly constructed an im- 
aginary one, which supplied his wants in that direction. This 
was the age of Polytheism, of many gods. 

But as metaphysical science advances, man finds himself in 
possession of self-consciousness, in which is engrafted the many 
departments of his mind ; hence he has discarded all the minor 
gods, and only recognizes the one great Jehovah, but ascribes 
to him all the faculties and emotions of the human being, and 
thus fashioning God after his own nature, he represents him as 
a jealous, avenging, vindictive, and aspiring being; desiring 
honor, distinction, and notoriety, and they who refuse to pay 
him such homage, receive as their reward an eternity of fire 
and brimstone.^ 

This is the stage of development through which the mind is 
at present passing. When we arrive at the next degree of 
mental progress, we will discard Deity as an Anthropomorphic 
being, and receive this self-conscious principle within us as the 
universal, omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent, — the infinite 
and eternal of all that was, and is, and is to be. And when we 
have observed the requirements of the law, and fulfilled the 
ends of our existence, Christ, (not the individual, but the con- 
dition,) will step off the mediatorial throne, surrender the world 
to the Father, and we will become all in all. 

The sooner we advance to this condition, the sooner will the 
aim of existence be accomplished, and then the Golden Age 
will be ushered in. 

It is a glorious privilege to help it forward, even the thou- 
sandth part of an inch ; and it is a fearful responsibility to re- 

* I have often thought that had the writers of the New Testament heen 
familiar with chemical science, they would have consigned man to a burning 
pit of oxygen gas, as it is many times hotter than sulphur. 



24 ANTHROPOMORPHISM DISSECTED. 

tard it, even a hair's breadth. Every one of us can aid in the 
glorious work, if we accept the Harmonial Philosophy as our 
guide, and follow the voice of conscience, which to each one of 
us is truly God within us. Yes, we can advance the wheel of 
progress, by interchanging ideas, however adverse they are, and 
by discussing differences of opinion. 

We will now^how, from facts narrated in history, that our 
philosophy is true ; beginning with the most ancient records, 
and tracing them up to our own time. Hindostan is the most 
ancient nation of which we have any record. They believe 
themselves to be the first inhabitants of the earth, and their 
traditions place the creation of the world many millions of 
years further back than ours. According to the learned as- 
tronomer, M. Bailly, their observations of the heavenly bodies 
may be dated as far back as five thousand years. 

"The Sanscrit language," says Mrs. L. Maria Childs, " in 
which their sacred books are written, is of such remote anti- 
quity that no tradition remains of any people by whom it was 
originally spoken, and their mythological sculptures, covering 
immense masses of rock, are said to be ' works which make the 
pyramids of Egypt seem young.'" No doubt but humanity 
first had its existence in Hindostan or China. But the com- 
paratively small observation which has been made in the latter, 
will not suffice to claim our attention at present ; we observe, 
in its religious worship and theology, the least imitation of the 
Hindoo than of any other nation. 

In the early existence of humanity, when intuition seemed to 
control the imagination, and when man seemed to drink from 
the exhaustless fountain cf the universe lum, the Hindoo idea of 
God in all things, and all things in God, was the prevailing 
sentiment. This sentiment was called Brahm. But as soon 
as the imagination began its meanderings in the broad theatre of 
mental action, just so soon theology began to creep in — the 
first of which is, that spirit was produced by emanation from 
Brahm, the highest of which was Brahma, Creator, Vishnu, the 



ANTHROPOMORPHISM DISSECTED. 25 

Preserver, and Siva, the Destroyer, who is likewise the Ke- 
producer of forms. There was a great spirit who presided 
over the planets, and inferior spirits were emanated, and formed 
a scale or link between Brahma and man. This idea seems to 
have entered into the mind of the Christian poet, when he 
penned the following lines: — 

" Heart thrills to heart, 
Throughout the wide domain of heavenly life ; 
Each angel forms a chain which in God's throne begins, 
And winds down to the lowest plane of earthly minds ; 
And only as each lifts his lower friend 
Can he into superior joys ascend." 

Hindoos believe that innumerable intelligences which ema- 
nated from Brahma, fell into the lower spheres, and that 
" through the intercession of spirits, who had not fallen from 
their original state, this world was created as a place of pro- 
bation for their wandering souls, and mortal bodies were 
provided for them to enter." In this body they perform pen- 
ance, which, if faithfully observed, will eventually restore 
them to their primeval condition. 

" They believe that every man is accompanied from birth to 
death by two attending spirits, one who keeps record of his 
good actions, the other of his sins. That within the external, 
mortal body is a subtile, invisible body, the seat of the spirit- 
ual faculties, the mediator between the soul and the senses. 
At death this interior body is not laid aside with the material 
form. It accompanies the human soul through all its trans- 
migrations, until the soul is finally absorbed into the supreme 
Being, from whom it emanated. This invisible, interior body, 
after successive sojourns on earth, in paradise, or hell, for 
ages, is finally cast off by the soul's complete absorption into 
Brahm. Then the spiritual body returns to be again born on 
earth, and the organization of the external body it takes, 
depends on the character of the soul it had previously accom- 
panied." It is a common assertion among the Hindoos, that 
" Brahma inscribes the destiny of every mortal on his skulJ 
3 



26 ANTHROPOMORPHISM DISSECTED. 

and the gods themselves cannot avert it." ^ ^ * ^ * " The 
three attributes of Brahm, called Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva, 
are indicated by letters corresponding to our A, U, M, gener- 
ally pronounced Om. This mystic word is never uttered ex- 
cept in prayer, and the sign which represents it in their tem- 
ples is an object of profound adoration. Their Sacred Books 
declare it to be the first word uttered by Brahma, and called 
it ' the first-born of the Creator." Like the pure ether, it 
encloses in itself all the qualities, all the elements of Brahma. 
It is the name and the body of Brahma. It is consequently 
infinite, like him, and is the Creator and Ruler of all things.' 
Brahma meditated upon this Divine word, found therein primi- 
tive water. All ordained rites, such as oblation to fire, 
and solemn offerings, pass away; but A, U, M, passes not 
away ; since it is a symbol of the Most High, the Lord of all 
created things. In the Sacred Books, called Vedas, The Word 
utters a soliloquy, in which he praises himself as the Universal 
Soul. There is likewise a prayer in the Vedas called Gaya- 
tree, which consists of three measured lines, and is considered 
the holiest and most efficacious of all their religious forms. 
Sir William Jones translates it thus: 'Let us adore the 
supremacy of that spiritual sun, the godhead, who illuminates 
all, who re-creates all, from whom all proceed, to whom all 
must return ; whom we invoke to direct our understandings 
aright in our progress toward his holy seat.' " ^ 

Many are disposed to believe the Pentateuch as of divine 
origin, from the elegant and sublime style of its composition ; 
but it sinks into insignificence when compared with the Vedas, 
although it is comparatively of mean origin, and has had the 
advantage of centuries for improvement. The truth is, the 
Jews were an ignorant and barbarous people two thousand 
years ago, and Dr. Barnet, in his Archoslogia Philosophia, ad- 
mits that they were an assembly of slaves, brought out of 
Egyptian prisons, who understood no art but that of making 
bricks. 

* Progress of Religious Opinions, by Mrs. L. Maria Childs. 



ANTHROPOMORPHISM DISSECTED. 27 

The Hindoo Sacred Books narrate the incarnation of their 
God in the form of Crishna. Wilkenson, the learned Oriental 
scholar, thinks this fact occurred about four thousand years 
ago. "We will narrate it, as it is similar, in many points, 
to that of the Christian's story. Many learned men, among 
whom is the Rev. Robert Taylor, founder of the Christian Evi- 
dence Society, believed the authors of our Bible drew from this 
source. 

As the mind unfolded and intelligence advanced in Hin- 
dostan, they dared to ask the positive questions, " What are 
the three principal powers ? How came Brahma into ex- 
istence? How did he create the world? How is the soul 
united to the body ? How is it absorbed into the Godhead ? 
What are the various forms assumed by Vishna ? What is 
holiness ? What are good works ? What is the object of all 
these things?" 

Father Bouchet, in his letters from Hindostan, quotes the fol- 
lowing account from one of the Pouranas : " The inferior spirits, 
who ever since creation have been multiplying themselves 
almost to infinity, did not at first enjoy the privilege of immor- 
tality. After numberless efforts to procure it, they had re- 
course to a tree, which grew in Paradise, and by eating its 
fruit, they became immortal. A serpent, called Chiven, ap- 
peared to guard the Tree of Life, was so exasperated by their 
proceedings, that he poured out a great quantity of poison. 
The whole earth felt the terrible effects of it, and not one mor- 
tal would have escaped, had not the god, Chiven, taken pity on 
the human race, revealed himself under the shape of a man, 
and swallowed the poison." 

In their old sacred places, this tradition is commemorated 
by representations of a tree, a serpent, and human figures 
eating of the fruit. ^^^^^^^^ " One day, when 
Brahma was inclined to slumber, the giant demon, Hayagriva, 
stole the four Vedas, swallowed them, and concealed himself 
in the sea. Vishnu, the Prevador and Preserver of the Uni- 
verse, discovered the deed, and assumed the shape of small 



28 ANTHROPOMORPHISM DISSECTED. 

fish, he appeared to Menu. The saint recognized him to be an 
incarnate divinity by his immense growth in a few days.'*^ 

Crishna incarnated himself for their redemption. He was 
born in a lowly condition. When Devaci, his mother, became 
pregnant, his countenance became radiant with celestial light. 
Brahma and Siva, with a host of attending spirits, came to 
her and sang: "In thy delivery, O favored among women, all 
nature shall have cause to exult." " The seasons preceding this 
marvellous birth, were uncommonly regular and genial ; the 
planets were unusually brilliant, strong winds were hushed, 
rivers glided tranquilly, and the virtuous experienced extraor- 
dinary delight. In the month Bhadron, at deep midnight, 
when the Sustainer of All was about to be born, the clouds 
emitted low musical sounds, and poured down a rain of flowers. 
When the celestial infant appeared, a chorus of heavenly spir- 
its saluted him with hymns. The whole room was illuminated 
by his light, and the countenances of his father and mother 
emitted rays of glory. Their understandings were opened, 
they knew him to be the Preserver of the Woild, and began to 
worship him. But he soon closed their minds, so that they 
thought that he was merely a human child born unto them. 
While his mother was weeping over him, and lamenting the 
cruel decrees of her tyrannical brother, a voice was distinctly 
heard, saying : — ' Son of Yadu, carry this child to Gokul, on 
the other side of the river Jamna, to Nanda, whose wife has 
just given birth to a daughter, Leave him, and bring the girl 
hither.' Yasudeva inquired, ' How is that possible, in a pri- 
son, so closely guarded ? ' The voice replied, ' The doors will 
open of themselves, and I have caused a deep sleep to fall upon 
all the guards.' Then Yasudeva took the child in his arms, 
the doors opened, and he passed out. Being in the rainy season, 
the current of the river Jamna was rapid and strong ; but when 
the divine child approached, the waters rose up to kiss his feet, 
then respectfully retired on either side, and left a dry pathway. 

* Progress of Religious Ideas. 



ANTHROPOMORPHISM DISSECTED. 29 

The great hooded serpent of Vishnu held her head over him 
all the way, instead of an umbrella. When they arrived at 
Nanda's house, the door opened of itself. He and his wife 
were asleep. He took their infant daughter in his arms, and 
left the boy with them. When he returned, the river again 
separated to offer him free passage, the prison gates opened, 
the guards were all asleep, and he delivered the girl to his 
wife." 

Representations of this flight with the babe at midnight are 
sculptured on the walls of ancient Hindoo temples. In Crish- 
na's youth, a great serpent poisoned the river, so that the cows 
and shepherd boys, who drank of the water, lay dead on the 
banks, in great numbers. Chrisha merely looked on them with 
an eye of divine mercy, and they all came to life and rose up. 
Inolia, one of their gods, displeased at the losses of his offering 
caused by Chrishna, sent a deluge of rain. " Chrishna told the 
people to take refuge on a mountain, with their flocks and 
herds. When they had done so, he lifted the mountain on his 
little finger, and held it above the storm, with as much ease 
as if it had been a lotus-blossom." 

" Chrishna was soon visited by one of the Indian prophets 
and Magi called Naren, who, having heard of his fame, exam- 
ined the stars and declared him to be of celestial descent. His 
father and mother had soon to flee with him to a remote coun- 
try to save him from the suspicion of a tyrant, who ordered all 
of the male children of that region and period to be slain. 
Chrishna was sent to a tutor to be instructed, and instantly 
astonished him with his wisdom and learning ; so did Christ 
the Doctors in the temple. Crishna had a forerunner in his 
brother, Ram, just as Jesus had in his cousin, John the Bap- 
tist. Crishna was called the good shepherd." To show his 
humanity, Chrishna washed the feet of the Brahmins. One 
day a woman poured on Crishna's head a box of ointment, for 
which he cured her of ailment. 

One of Chrishna 's first miracles, was the cure of a leper ; 
among the first cures of Christ was that of a leper. During 
3* 



30 ANTHROPOMORPHISM DISSECTED. 

his succeeding career Crishna raised the dead, was crucified, 
descended into Hades, whence he returned and ascended to 
Voicontha, the heaven of Vishnu, who is the father, or first 
person of the Hindoo Trinity.^ 

As the time of Ohrishna's death approached, " A black 
circle surrounded the moon, and the sun was darkened at 
noon-day; the sky rained fire and ashes; those animals 
which it was deemed fortunate to meet on the right hand, 
were met on the left ; flames burned dusky and livid ; 
demons carried away the ornaments of the women, and the 
weapons of the men, and no one could impede them ; at 
sunrise and sunset, thousands of figures were seen skirmishing 
in the air ; Crishna's horses took fright and ran away with his 
carriage into the pathless regions of the atmosphere, far beyond 
the ken of mortals; spirits hovered in the air, wailing and cry- 
ing out, ' Arise ye and flee ! ' Chrishna knew that these 
prodigies foreboded the extinction of the Yadavas, and his own 
exit from his material form. He remembered the prophecy 
concerning himself, ' Chrishna, take care of the sole of thy 
foot.' He seated himself in a jungle, full of melancholy 
thoughts, and summoned all his force, mental and corporal, 
while his spirit stood ready to depart. A hunter, seeing him 
there, mistook him for an animal, and discharged an arrow, 
which pierced him in the foot. Immediately, a great light 
enveloped the earth, and illumined the whole expanse of 
heaven. Crishna, attended by celestial spirits, and luminous, 
as on the night he was born in the house of Vasudeva, pursued, 
by his own light, the journey between earth and heaven, to the 
bright Paradise whence he had descended. All men saw him, 
and exclaimed, ' Lo, Crishna's soul ascends its native skies.' 
=H= ^ # =& # ^ ^= Chrishna is at all times present every 
where; just as fire, though concealed, is always present in 
wood. Whoever is, night and day, thinking of him, becomes 
exalted above all the worlds. Whosoever, at the moment of 

* Is Christ God 1 By Dr. A. A. Weisse. 



ANTHROPOMORPHISM DISSECTED. 31 

expiring, shall retain him in remembrance, will infallibly be 
thrice blessed."^ 

I have quoted at length from Mrs. Child's work, that you 
may see the ideas of the earlier nations, and contrast them 
with the more modern writings on theology. "The inclination 
to reverence," says Harriet Martineau, " is inherent in all 
men, and its natural exercise is always to be sympathized with, 
irrespective of its objects." 

It is my desire to show the people that theology is not 
religion, and to free the minds of men from that thraldom 
which binds them to forms and ceremonies, and allow them an 
expansive range of free aspiration after goodness and truth. 

Hindoo ideas spread into Egypt, and, as time elapsed, were 
changed and altered as the minds of men progressed. They 
also penetrated Chaldea and Persia, and were likewise modified 
to suit the minds of those nations. "Zoroaster, a noted charac- 
ter, purporting to be of divine origin, figures conspicuously in 
Persian history. He is their law-giver, as Moses is ours, 
conversed with God as Moses did, and did all such things. 
His doctrine is blended with the Hindoo, and forms the Persian 
theology. "Aristotle, Pliny, .and others fix his date five 
thousand years before the Trojan war, which would be more 
than six thousand years before the Christian era. Plato 
mentions this as the most common opinion." He gave the 
Persians their Bible, called Zend-Avesta. He believed in 
gradation of spirits from the Sovereign Intelligence, the All- 
seeing Being, whom he called Ormuzd, down to man. He also 
taught the existence of a Prince of Darkness, a Beelzabud, 
whom he called Arimones. One of their prayers says, " Grant, 
O Ormuzd, that my good works may excel my sins. Give me 
a part in all good actions and all holy words." 

Jewish theology next claims our attention. In doing justice 
to this nation, I incur the censure of our people. Even the 
odium of the street boys are thrown at me, and the name of 

* Progress of Religious Ideas. 



32 ANTHROPOMORPHISM DISSECTED. 

Infidel is thrust into my consciousness, as if I were . a devil 
from hell, clothed with hoof and horns, or a wild maniac from 
the infernal regions, casting plagues and famine among the 
people. But what of this? The truth needs be told, and I 
had, as well as any other, be a martyr at its shrine. I shrink 
not from the responsibility. 

The Jews figure not in history till near three hundred years 
before our era. Robert Cooper tells us, "The celebrated 
Wittenbach, in his reply to Josephus,^ shows that the Jews 
only came into notice in Greece after the time of Alexander 
the Great, and that the historical monuments, preceding that 
period, make not the slightest mention of any Jewish transac- 
tion. In short, he triumphantly establishes the important 
fact, so anxiously withheld by the Christian priests — that the 
Jews were unknown to the world as a nation until they were 
subjected by the Romans, — yet are we to believe that a book 
like the Bible, alleged to be "divinely inspired," and so essen- 
tial to the eternal welfare of humanity at large, remained so 
long in obscurity ! " 

Their barbarity is shown in their own writings, and their 
selfishness ruled them to such a degree, that they openly 
avowed themselves to be the chosen people of Jehovah, and 
went forth to war and conquest, with the motto that the great 
Ruler of heaven and earth had commissioned them with divine 
authority, to plunder, rob, and destroy innocent nations. 
"Plerodotus, in all his voluminous writings, does not mention 
the Jews as a nation, nor as a subject state." Diodorus, in 
recording the events of nations, is silent in respect to the Jews. 
No historian t gives the least account of the Jews as late as 
three hundred years before our era. 

The ancient Society of Free Masons, have no records prior 
to this date, and no facts but what could have been originated 
much later than this period. Then we have strong negative 

* Opuscula, Vol. 11, p. 416. 
t Josephus, the Jew, excepted. 



ANTHROPOMORPHISM DISSECTED. 33 

evidence that the Jewish nation has not figured to that extent 
which it purports to have done in the Bible. From the simi- 
larity of much of Josephus' history and the Bible, we can 
safely assert, that he relied for much of his information on 
Biblical records and other books, which have, since his time, 
been denounced as spurious, unauthentic records. 

But Bible evidence, in many places, coincides with me. 
The first reference made to any of their theological writings, is 
recorded in the xxxiv. Chapter of 2nd Chronicles. There it 
is recorded that Hilkiah, a priest, found a book of the law. 
This is said to have been six centuries and a quarter before 
our era. 

The circumstances connected with the finding of this book, 
had led many to suppose that Hilkiah wrote it himself. A 
book of such remote origin as this purports to be, which has 
lain unobserved so great a period, could not have been read by 
Shapham, the scribe, with that fluent style, which brought con- 
viction home to the king with so much force that he rent his 
clothes. Who can affirm that Hilkiah and Shapham did not 
make that book themselves? Such a book had never been 
heard of before, or some persons would have known something 
about it. But we are told, " the king went up into the house, 
the house of the Lord, and all the men of Judea, and the in- 
habitants of Jerusalem, and the priests, and the Levites, and 
all the people, great and small. And he read in their ears, all 
the words of the book of the covenant that was found in the 
house of the Lord,"^ 

Admitting this to be gospel, we have another difficulty, even 
greater than this. Bat, says Cooper, " This is not the only 
time the Holy Writings, as we are taught to call them, were 
missing. We are told by Jewish writers themselves, that they 
were completely lost during the Babylonish captivity, (which 
was only a few years after they were said to have been found 
by Hilkiah,) and were not restored until the priest, Ezra, was 

* 2d Chronicles, 34th chapter. 



34 ANTHROPOMORPHISM DISSECTED. 

inspired to re-write them, some four hundred years before the 
Christian era. So that we must believe this invaluable book 
was first lost for eight centuries, then read for a short time, 
and subsequently lost again, never to be recovered. How the 
" chosen people" prized their godly treasure ! The manner in 
which Ezra performed the onorous task of re-writing the Jew- 
ish Text Book, is detailed in the 4th book of Esdras, a book 
deemed authentic by the Greek Church. He dictated the Holy 
books during forty successive days and nights, to five scribes, 
who were continnally writing. 

Thus, then, do the authenticity and genuineness of the Old 
Testament rest upon the authority of one priest, who might dic- 
tate to the scribes what he pleased, — omit, or add, or alter; just 
what he felt disposed" 

It is necessary that we examine particularly this portion 
of our subject, for upon it rests the premises of our pulpit har- 
angues, which are thrown broadcast among the dear people every 
Sunday, and on the belief of which, they are told, rests their 
eternal happiness or woe. 

Cooper continues, " That Ezra would have every opportunity 
of indulging in these liberties, is proved by the fact, as stated 
by Brown, in his " Dictionary of the Bible," and by Bishop 
Marsh, in his " Lectures," and in the 8th Chapter of Nehe- 
miah, that the Jews lost their own language during the Baby- 
lonish captivity, and spoke the Chaldaic tongue, the priests 
being obliged to expound the Holy books to the people in that 
language, thereby affording every facility to introduce what 
matter they thought fit, the multitude being quite incompetent 
to detect any interpolation, alteration, or omission. 

It is now admitted, by most Christian writers of eminence, 
that the compilation made by Ezra, is the authority upon which 
we have to depend for our translations. Nay, the Christian 
father, Ireneus, distinctly declared, that the books of the Old 
Testament were not in existence, until " they were fabricated 
seventy years after the Babylonish captivity, by Esdras, (or 
Esdra.) This is a fact of some moment, and one with which 



ANTHROPOMORPHISM DISSECTED. 35 

the people are generally unacquainted. Hence, the vulgar belief 
that the Bible is a work of extraordinary antiquity — that it 
was the first, and therefore, according to the logic of the crowd, 
the best that was ever written." * *= * # # ^ " It is neces- 
sary I should here inform you, that there was no proper canon, 
or collection of the writings of the Old Testament, until the 
time of the synagogue under the Maccabees, which was only 
about two hundred years before the appearance of Christ ? Up 
to this period, the " Holy books " were scattered, and liable to 
be altered or amended, just as priests might determine ! It is 
generally supposed by the vulgar, that the Bible always retained 
its present form, but such an idea is manifestly erroneous." 

Who knows that these men were inspired to write these 
things? We have only their ipse dixit for it. Le Clerk, a 
Christian writer, offers reasons which go to prove that we have 
only the testimony of fallible human beings, and those of the 
worst class — the most fallible — ignorant and cunning priests, 
in favor of the genuineness of our present canon of the Old 
Testament." 

"We are told in the Talmud, that a miserable assembly of 
priests were about to reject the book of Proverbs, the prophesies 
of Ezekiel and Ecclesiastes, because those writings were contra- 
dictory to the law of Grod, but a certain Babbi having under- 
taken to reconcile them, they were preserved as 'canonical.' 
Here the three books, Proverbs, Ezekiel, and Ecclesiastes, are 
confessedly presented to us as altered by an impudent Jewish 
Babbi ! Notwithstanding, writings thus mutilated, to suit the 
purposes of priestcraft, are declared to be the Word of God ? 
O ! orthodoxy, when wilt thou blush for thy blind and shameless 
credulity ? But this is not all : The Samaritan Jews, and the 
ancient Sadducees, rejected all but the Pentateuch. There 
was also about this period a prodigious number of forged 
books of Esdras, Daniel, and other prophets, in circulation. 
And what authority have we that our present copies are not 
taken from the spurious? From these facts, it is obvious that 
the Jews themselves disagreed as to which books of the present 



36 ANTHROPOMORPHISM DISSECTED. 

canon were genuine, and which were not. And this difference 
of opinion has existed down to our time, both among the most 
learned Jews and Christians. The Apocrypha, for instance, is 
pronounced genuine by Catholics, but utterly rejected by 
Protestants." ^ 

De Pin and St. Eucharius, think that we are crediting 
writings which are not very creditable. Simon quotes St. 
Chrysostom thus: "The Jews, having been at sometimes care- 
less, and at others profane, they suffered some of the sacred 
books to be lost through their carelessness, and have burnt and 
destroyed others." Which led Cooper to rejoin, "We are here 
deliberately told by Christian writers of great repute, that the 
Jews were so grossly negligent about the ' Word of God,' that 
much of it is completely lost, and other portions they actually 
burnt and destroyed ! ! Burnt the Bible ! ! ! " What outrageous 
sacrilege! Had it been Infidels who had burnt the Bible, 
what an affecting story we should have heard from the "gen- 
tlemen of the cloth ! " All the ladies in Christendom would 
have been in tears ! There is something connected with this 
matter which is not a little alarming. We are assured that a 
belief in the Bible is essential to our eternal salvation. Now 
we have not the "Word of God," but only a portion, and that, 
according to St. Eucharius, a very small portion. " And, 
therefore," says an able writer, "calculating upon our salva- 
tion according to the quantity of the ' Word of God,' we will 
be a quarter saved, and three quarters damned." 

We now pass to the translation of the Hebrew into Greek, 
which was performed by seventy learned scholars. But we 
are told by Christian authorities, that this is not a correct 
translation : This translation was destroyed in the Alexandrian 
Library. However, after such precaution to obtain an accurate 
translation, they have to rely on an individual one. Bishop 
Usher says, "The Septuagint translation continually adds to, 
takes from, and changes the Hebrew text at pleasure, and that 

* Robert Cooper's "Lecture on the History of the Old Testament." 



ANTHROPOMORPHISM DISSECTED. 37 

the original translations were lost long ago." St. Jerome says, 
11 Oregen, the famous Christian father, wrote a version of the 
old Testament from which most of our modern English copies 
are translated." He is accused of altering the Greek text and 
supplying his deficiencies from the version of Theodotian, who 
was an Infidel. Little do Christians think that they are read- 
ing the works of an Infidel, when they are carefully studying 
the Old Testament. 

The New Testament presents as much confusion in its wan- 
derings down to us, as does the Old. It is but a fragmentary 
history of Jesus and his doctrines, with disquisitions thereon 
by Paul, winding up with a dreadful dream by John, which 
perhaps was penned to scare the Gnostics into a doctrine which 
he could not reason into them. The circumstances of Jesus' 
birth and actions are nearly similar to those of the Hindoo 
Crishna. I account for it in this wise : The state of philosophy 
in Hindostan, at the time Crishna appeared, and that of Judea 
at the appearance of Christ, were nearly the same. Both 
admitted the existence of an intelligent cause, and both saw the 
effect produced in nature. 

A necessary action must exist between cause and effect, 
which we, of later days, call means or law. At that time, 
men lived almost entirely in the externals of their minds, and 
could not conceive of a cause and law, without giving them 
shape and dimension, as they did matter ; hence they personi- 
fied both, and centering on some object, which they believed to 
be the means, and to possess the power of reconciling their 
inharmonious nature, they looked upon that object, or person, 
with wonder and surprise, and would metamorphose the actions 
and sayings of that person into stupendous absurdities. 

Observing the general teachings of Jesus and his conduct, 
we find very little which is absurd, yet, we find little else but 
absurdity in the teaching and doctrines of those who profess to 
be his followers. Considering the age in which he lived, and 
the influences by which he was surrounded, we are warranted 
in saying that he was the greatest philanthropist that ever 
4 



38 ANTHROPOMORPHISM DISSECTED. 

lived, — a true and worthy example did he set before men, 
the observance of which will make us all children of God. 

But the interpolations which have crept in, and the wilful 
perversion of priests, have put an authentic history beyond 
our reach. We know not when those biographies called the 
" Gospels," were written. Dr. Lardner thinks their compo- 
sition took place about thirty years after the death of Jesus. 
But they are not noticed by any of the early Fathers of the 
first and second centuries, which has led many to think that 
they were written after that time. 

They were rejected and approved as councils might vote 
them ; and out of fifty or more Gospels, we have those which now 
exist in the New Testament. The Gospels of St. Peter, St. 
Thomas, St. Matthias, St. Bartholomew, St. Philip, Judas 
Iscariot, Thadeus, and Barnabas ; with the Acts of St. Peter, 
St. Paul, St. Andrew, St. John, St. Philip, and St. Thomas ; 
and the Revelations of St. Paul, St. Stephen, and St. Thomas ; 
together with many others, were rejected in councils by cunning 
priests, and denounced as spurious and lying narrations. In- 
stead of giving us all, that we might read, criticise, and learn, 
designing priests, in drunken councils, have declared that it 
should not be, and so.be it must. 

The Council of Nice was convened by the Emperor Con- 
stantine, to settle the perplexed question, whether Jesus, the 
Son, was as old as God, the Father, which difference of opinion 
had caused Christians and heretics to murder each other by 
turns, for a century past ; and when that council decided that 
the Son was as old as the Father, and that Mary was the 
Mother of God, the populace rejoiced with shouts and exclam- 
ations, and kissed the hands and feet of the priests and bishops. 
O, Diana of the Ephesians, as ignorance is bliss, 'tis folly to 
be wise. 

About the year 350 the Council of Laodicea voted the 
present books of the New Testament to be divinely inspired 
and canonical, and rejected all others. Many councils were 
held and books approved and rejected by turns. At the Coun- 



ANTHROPOMORPHISM DISSECTED. 39 

cil of Trent, held in 1563, all Protestants were condemned as 
heretics, and decently assigned to an eternity of woe and 
misery. 

I have as much faith in the decision of Trent as any of the 
preceding councils ; but my faith in them all could rest with 
ease in the lap of a monad. 

After the fifteenth century, when printing was gradually in- 
troduced, the Bible was locked up in monasteries and convents, 
to prevent its being circulated among the people. Priests and 
monks could have altered its reading at pleasure, to suit their 
own notions. The corrupt and polluted Leo the Great, Bishop 
of Borne, about the middle of the fifth century, did more to 
influence the orthodox divines relative to the great doctrine of 
the union of the two natures of Christ in one person, and the 
form in which it is now held, than the doctrine of the Bible 
itself; and it is a fact no less true, that those persons who ori- 
ginated the most popular ecclesiastical doctrines, were men 
of unprincipled and corrupt natures, and only personal aspir- 
ers after honor and fame. Where is there, on record, even 
among land and sea pirates, a man so heartless, stern, and 
vindictive, as the notorious John Calvin? A man who could 
kindle the flames around the lamented Servetus, and view with 
fiendish delight the tortures inflicted for the mere crime of dif- 
ference in opinion ! Second to none, not even devils in hell, 
who are said to glory in human misery and woe. Yet a large 
and respectable portion of Christendom are vindicators of his 
doctrines. You may ask what are the doctrines of such a 
heartless man ? " We assert that, by an eternal and immut- 
able council, God has, once for all, decreed whom he would 
admit to salvation, and whom he would condemn to destruction. 
God has mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will 
he hateth.^ That is to say, God did, before the creation of 
worlds, calmly and conscientiously, in accordance with his 
benevolent will, foreordain a portion of his human children, 

* Calvin's Institutes. 



40 ANTHROPOMORPHISM DISSECTED. 

begotten in his own image, to eternal damnation, and the 
remainder he takes home to glory. Comment on such atrocity 
is useless. Language sinks beneath its own significance when 
endeavoring to express the feelings that originate from such a 
doctrine. No wonder blue laws could originate where such a 
doctrine reigns. Yet the Rev. Mr. Spurgeon, of modern noto- 
riety, prizes nothing higher " than pure, unadulterated Cal- 
vanism." 

About the first of the fifteenth century, Martin Luther pro- 
tested against the Catholic, or Romish Church, and advocated 
the right of man to interpret the Scriptures for himself. This 
protestation gave rise to what is called the Reformation. But 
it is easily seen that Protestant authorities are not in favor of 
people having access to all of the truth. They give us no 
light on the origin of the Bible, and condemn those who 
attempt it. " Would it not have been more liberal," says Dr. 
Weisse, " in our Protestant Reformers, if they had added all 
these books to our Bible, and allowed their converts to judge 
for themselves, especially as they pretended to proclaim liberty 
of conscience, and that every person had a right to read and 
explain the Bible for himself? Like their predecessors and 
contemporaries, they were and still are afraid that too much 
light would be thrown upon the early interpolations and 
frauds. Even in this so-called land of liberty, it is difficult 
for the public to get at these books, so that each and all sin- 
cere investigators could judge as to their truth or falsehood. 
It is evident that now, as of old, here as in Europe, under 
republicanism and despotism, priestcraft has tried, is trying, 
and will try to keep the masses in the dark as to the history 
of that made-up-book, called the Bible." 

Protestants are dependent on Catholics for the correctness 
of their Bible ; and the Catholics denounce the Protestant 
version as untrue and unauthentic, for which Protestants 
denounce their church as the whore of Babylon ; and Infidels 
condemn Protestants for going to a prostitute for their author- 



ANTHROPOMORPHISM DISSECTED. 41 

ity ; so we have it up one side and down the other like a 
tetter. 

But as we proceed, new difficulties surmount us on every 
side, and a huge incubus seems to prey upon our vitals, and is 
likely to sap the last particle of faith from our minds ; leaving 
us to be reasoning, thinking, and social beings ; free to accept 
or reject at pleasure. That difficulty is the translation of the 
Scriptures into English. 

When we examine the proceedings of that translation, it 
reminds us of the assembly of the old councils, where, according 
to Tindal, men prattled like " geese and cranes, who fight 
without understanding one another," where rolls of scandal 
were thrown into the consciousness of all that were present, 
and " where, with such heat, passion, and fury, the Bishops fell 
foul of each other, insomuch, that had not the Emperor, by a 
trick, burnt their church memorials, probably they must have 
broken up in confusion." Until the sixteenth century Euro- 
pean kings were under the authority and control of the Pope. 
In the early part of the fourteenth century, the Latin Yulgate 
was translated into English, by Wickliffe, which influenced the 
people to such a degree, as to begin to undermine the power 
of Papacy. Its influence extended to such a degree, that 
King Henry VIII., and his nobility, threw off the oppressive 
yoke of Papacy, and established an independent church, which 
recognized the crown of England as its head. After Henri's 
death the religion of the Church of England underwent some 
modification, being composed of an amalgamation of Boman- 
ism and Protestantism. The haughty Elizabeth came to the 
throne too late to adopt her father's policy. Some thirty years 
before her reign, Tyndall translated the Bible. His version was 
thought to be more authentic than Wickliff's, and was revised 
again and again, and Bibles multiplied to that extent that 
they became a nuisance. They were read by the people ; this, 
Elizabeth wished to suppress, for the English Church con-' 
formed to the worship of the Catholics, and this was directly 
contrary to its edicts. " But the Protestants," says Wheelock 
4* 



42 ANTHROPOMORPHISM. DISSECTED. 

" could conform only with those that were in accordance with 
the teachings of the Bible. Here commenced a struggle, 
urged on by ecclesiastical authority on the one side, and 
scriptural authority on the oth#?r, which, it seems, made the 
bishops feel the necessity of bringing out a version of the 
English Scriptures that would afford them more aid than Tyn- 
dall's, in the mighty struggle. Hence originated what was 
called " The Bishop's Bible," to which King James ordered 
his translators to conform our present version. A just appre- 
ciation of this model Bible, and the character it has given our 
own, will require some knowledge of the character of its 
author, and of the circumstances under which it was produced, 
The firm, masculine, relentless and persecuting Elizabeth, then 
swayed the sceptre. A fit companion for her in this oppres- 
sive and bloody struggle of might against right, of error 
against truth, was Matthew Parker, Archbishop of Canterbury, 
the author of the Bishop's Bible, whom the queen had placed 
over ecclesiastical affairs. History describes him as " a severe 
churchman, of a rough and uncourtly temper, and of high and 
arbitrary principles, both in church and state, a slave to the 
prerogative and the supremacy, and a bitter enemy to the 
Puritans, whom he persecuted to the length of his power, and 
beyond the limits of the law." NeaVs History of the Puri- 
tans, vol. i, p. 221. ##=&## ^ For marrying 
without a ring, and baptizing without the cross, the Rev. Mr. 
Johnson, a very learned and pious clergyman, was shut in a 
close prison till he died, in great poverty and want. Neal, 
vol. i, p. 207. Similar was the fate of hundreds of the most 
pious clergymen in the realm. Their petitions to the queen 
for relief were unavailing, for she often said, " she hated 
the Puritans worse than the Papists." Neal, vol. i, p. 202. 
Their churches were supplied with drunken, gaming, and 
debauched bishops, and the people remonstrated to the Arch- 
bishop, showing the corrupt state of his dioceses, but to no 
effect. They then petitioned the ^crown. " We commend," 
say they, " to your honors' compassion, our poor families, but 



ANTHROPOMORPHISM DISSECTED. 43 

much more do we commend our doubtful, fearful, and dis- 
tressed consciences, together with the cries of our pocr people, 
who are hungering after the word, and are now as sheep 
having no shepherds. We have applied to the archbishop, but 
can get no relief, we, therefore, humbly beg it at your honors' 
hands." Parson's NeaVs History of the Puritans. London 
Edition. 1811. Those bishops who so contemptibly disre- 
garded the petition of their flocks, were not in a suitable 
condition to do the Word of God that justice which it demanded. 

King James, on ascending the throne of England, chastised 
Dr. Reynolds, who represented the cause of the Puritans, and 
conceded to Bishop Bancroft all his requests. Bancroft was 
a persecutor of the Puritans. He was also chief overseer of 
the translation of our present version, known as King James' 
version. James committed his translations " to men whose 
bigotry and sectarianism, were a sufficient guarantee that it 
would be executed agreeably to the High-church notions of him- 
self and his bishops." " In view of these facts, let me ask if 
the care and pains-taking, bestowed upon King James' version, 
under such circumstances, warrant its accuracy ? # # =& # # 
' Both that version and the bishops' to which it was to be 
conformed, came forth from a church, which, during the very 
time of their production, was red with the fresh-spilt blood of 
martyred saints ! Now, can it be supposed that God's Word 
could pass through such a slime-pit of moral corruption and 
come out pure ? " * 

Thus we have the Word of God undergoing the fluctuations 
of men's minds, and the interpolations of designing priests ! 
Can this truly be the Word of God ? I appeaPto all honest, 
candid thinkers. Shall our ideas of God's wisdom sink to that 
insignificance, which will enable us to believe he would have 
chosen such means to promulgate his will to human nature ? 
Why did he plant the noble gift of intelligence in our being, 
which he knew would repudiate such absurdity and falsehood ? 

* Rev. Alonzo Wheelock before the American Bible Union Association. 



44 ANTHROPOMORPHISM DISSECTED. 

Has lie given us the instinct of reason to investigate the truth 
of existence, or lead us into eternal misery ? Bat it is said we 
have a hope left in the modern version ? This is not true. 
Who knows from whence the manuscripts of our modern ver- 
sion came ? Were they forged by priests, or by the early 
fathers, to sustain some favorite theory ? Will our modern 
translators inform us ? Absurdity is equally as apparent as 
before. 

Mohammedanism only remains to be exposed, and then we 
have done with the dissection. But in a Christian country, 
Mohammedanism is not valid ; hence it is not incumbent on me 
to prove it untrue. Thus the structure is laid bare. Perceive 
for yourself. Let not the opinions of others debar from a care- 
ful investigation. Had I been ruled by the sentiments of others, 
never would this essay have appeared. But I have perceived 
what I have thought to be my duty, and have acted in conform- 
ity to that perception. I believe I am right. Did I believe 
otherwise, I never should have made the sacrifices and personal 
enemies which I have, in pursuing a determined course, by 
publishing my views on theology. Every inducement has been 
to the contrary. 

Bat, alas ! 'tis decreed by fate. 
And those who denounce the absurdity 
Of trade between God and man, 
To prepare the way for progressive minds, 
That they may walk in aspirations fields, 
And sip the nectar from Creation, 

Given by his own hand! 

Are scoffed as vain, proud, infidelic men, 

Who would sever the ties which exist 
Between creation and Creator. 

Such is the truth. 
This epithet was given me, 
Through old ladies sent by the clergy, 
To fright me out of my notions. 
"Why pursue you this obstinate course, 
Which brings scorn, contempt and envy 



ANTHROPOMORPHISM DISSECTED. 45 

Upon your head *. While otherwise 
You could court popularity, and become 
A nice young man, yes, Dr. D. L. Davis! 
Tnen will you not retrace your steps'? 

Stop, let me see! 
If I denounce my course, which is true, 
The only way to future bliss and happiness; 
For the sake of proud Approbativeness, 
Or stern self-esteem and luxury, 
I would be doing injury to myself, 
My neighbor, country, and my God! 
My conscience, it would haunt me as a ghost; 
Therefore, I'll not denounce the true, the good. 
It costs too much. 

I now proceed with my subject. Catholic and Protestant 
doctrines, which constitute Christendom, differ materially on 
points of philosophy. Catholicism says, the Pope is God's 
vicegerent on earth, and is the proper one to keep our con- 
sciences ; for if we allow the people to interpret God's will, 
they will be lost in endeavoring to comprehend his government, 
and will become divided and subdivided in their views, and re- 
solve into innumerable sects ; but we, the Pope, who is in 
direct communication with God, is the proper one to present 
the cause of humanity, and ask remission, at the throne of his 
grace, for the sins of the world. And all that is necessary to 
perceive the truth of this doctrine, is to look abroad over our 
land, and see the condition of Protestantism, the number of 
sects of which it is composed, and the animosity which exists 
between them. They quarrel among themselves, each predict- 
ing for the other a warm reception beyond the grave. Their 
views cannot be presented better than in the following lines, 
which I clip from the Boston Investigator : 

"I sing the road to bliss above, 
The different ways in which we move 
To gain a heavenly seat; 
Each s'upid sect, in error bound, 
Think they the only road have found 
To Paradise complete. 



46 ANTHROPOMORPHISM DISSECTED 

" The Catholic, absolved by Pope, 
Thinks heretics deserve a rope, 
Or else the burning flame; 
Do penance at the Virgin's shrine, 
Feel purified from every crime, 
And claim a saintly name. 

" The Presbyterian sourly scowls, 
Denouncing all as guilty souls, 
Who are not saved by fate ; 

Saying, ' We're the elect, and you 're the damned, 
Hell, like a wallet will be crammed 
With God's own reprobate! ' 

" The Church of England pay their tythes, 
Read their long prayers with half closed eyes, 
And bless their ^King and Queen ; 
They'd be nobility in bliss, 
And look on that sect and on this 
As vulgar, low, and mean. 

" The Baptist, washed in puddle clean, 
Join Presbyterians in their scream, 
Against the non-elect; 
'Ptepent! and be baptized betimes, 
Nor sprinkle babies, black with crimes 
Of Adam and his mate! ' 

" The Methodists, by madness drove, 
Howl dreadful on their road above, 
Denouncing heavenly ire: 
' Repent! or God will in a trice 
Shake you o'er hell like squeaking mice, 
Suspended o'er the fire!' 

" The Quaker smoothly travels on, 
Thinks cash in trade is fairly won, 
And all the world are knaves; 
But he is honest all his life, 
No money gets by war or strife, 
And by the Spirit saved. 

" The Shaker, dancing to the gato 
Of bliss, call Mother Ann to wait 
And hear his heavenly love: 
I' ve left the flesh and sin below, 
The Devil and his works, you know, 
To dance with you above ! 



ANTHROPOMORPHISM DISSECTED. 47 

" The Universalist will glide 
To heaven, as smooth as school-boys ride 
Down hill, on ice or snow: 
'Huzza! my boys, we'll all be saved, 
For hell is nothing but the grave, 
And there's no future woe! ' 

" Amid such clamor, who can tell, 
Which is the road to heaven or hell, 
Or how we can be saved! 
Whether by works, by faith, or prayers, 
By weeks of penance, days, or years, 
Or cash in plenty paid! 

"My counsel is, to walk alone, 
Keep clear of troubles not your own, 
And all religious strife; 
Let madmen at each other roar, 
Do good to all, both rich and poor, 
And lead a virtuous life." 

The Catholic doctrine, which completely overthrows Protes- 
tantism, also overthrows itself; for the knowledge and faith 
which are necessary on the part of the people, to comprehend 
the government and will of God, are also necessary for them to 
understanding Pope. 

Of Adam's meal they all partook, 
Their fate's the same as his. 
No power on earth can save them 
From such atrocity. 

The allegory of the Garden of Eden, the transactions therein, 
with the expulsion of its occupants, have ever been the basis 
of theological speculation. Never was it thought that the 
narrative might be false. " Only see," says Dr. L. D. Jared, 
" how the great mass of mankind are spell-bound by the mis- 
sion of theology. The doctrines of man's original holiness, 
his subsequent fall from that state, through the agency of the 
devil, the plan of salvation, the doctrine of vicarious atone- 
ment, have at present such a hold on the minds of the children 
of men, that no power on earth seems able to shake them off. 
The implicit faith in these dogmas has been transmitted from 



48 ANTHROPOMORPHISM DISSECTED. 

sire to son, with as much regard to the law of entailments as 
is paid by the lords of British soil. Popular Theology has its 
tenets so firmly rooted in the minds of the great mass of the 
people, that they become as speaking automatons, whose 
responses are but so many assents to whatever doctrine may 
issue from the church, and this, too, without any well-digested 
opinions of their own. 

Indeed most people have become so habituated to nodding 
assents to the doctrines of their spiritual leaders, without 
troubling their own minds as to the truth or falsity of the doc- 
trines' they thus tacitly receive, that it may be truly said, that 
their religious opinions are ground out at Theological Semin- 
aries, Synods, Presbyteries, Conferences, etc., and that, too, 
with as much deference to the state of the market, as is ob- 
served in the manufacture of our boots, hats, etc. It is a 
lamentable fact, that man, in his religious nature, has become 
a moral serf, and comes and goes with the creed to which he 
is attached. We, however, are not much surprised at this, 
when we see the zeal that is used to give the mind an early 
bias in favor of these myths of mythology." * 

The myriad changes of Anthropomorphism are seen as we 
trace it back through Britain, Gaul, Rome, Greece, Judea, 
Egypt, Persia, Chaldea, and Hindostan. Each had its day of 
glory, has risen and fallen as the minds of men fluctuated. 
Poets have sung of the past, and history brings to us its records. 
Let us not condemn it, only as it redounds to the glory of the 
future. As Jewish mythology is imposed upon us, we must 
contend for our individuality and our rights. It cannot fright 
us with its hideous yells, nor 

" The merciful and the avenging God ! 
Who, prototype of human misrule, sits 
High in Heaven's realm, upon a golden throne, 
Even like an earthly king ; and whose dread work, 
Hell gapes forever for the unhappy slaves 
Of fate, whom he created in his sport, 

* Letter to the Author, reviewing his Essay on Sectarianism. 



ANTHROPOMORPHISM DISSECTED. 49 

To triumph in their torments when they fell! 

Earth heard the name; earth trembled, as the smoke 

Of his revenge ascended up to heaven, 

Blotting the constellations : and the cries 

Of millions, butchered in sweet confidence 

And unsuspecting peace, even when the bands, 

Of safety were confined by wordy oaths, 

Sworn in his dreadful name, rung through the land; 

While innocent babes writhed on the stubborn spear, 

And thou did'bt laugh to hear the mother's shriek 

Of maniac gladness, as the sacred steel 

Felt cold in her torn entrails ! " 

* * * * * * 

' Horrible massacred, ascended to heaven 
In honor of his name; or last and worst, 
Earth groans beneath religion's iron age, 
And priests dare babble of a God of peace, 
Even whilst their hands are red with guiloless blood, 
Murdering the while, uprooting every germ 
Of truth, exterminating, spoiling all, 
Making the earth a slaughter-house. 

****** 
From an eternity of idleness 
I, God, awoke : in seven day's toil made earth 
From nothing ; rested, and created man. 
I placed him in a paradise, and there 
Planted the tree of evil, so that he 
Might eat and perish, and my soul procure 
Wherewith to sate its malice and to turn, 
Even like a heartless conqueror of the earth, 
All misery to my fame. The race of men 
Chosen to my honor, with impunity, 
May sate the lust I planted in their heart." 

****** 
" God omnipotent ! 
Is there no mercy 1 must our punishment 
Be endless 1 will long ages roll away, 
And see no turn 1 Oh ! wherefore hast thou made 
In mockery and wrath this evil earth 1 
Mercy becomes the powerful — be but just : 

God ! repent and save. 

One way remains, 

1 will beget a son, and he shall bear 
The sins of all the world ; he shall arise 
In an unnoticed corner of the earth, 

And there shall die upon a cross, and purge 
5 



50 ANTHROPOMORPHISM DISSECTED. 

The universal crime; so that the few 

On whom my grace descends, those who are marked 

As vessels to the honor of their God, 

May credit this strange sacrifice, and save 

Their souls alive. Millions shall live and die 

Who never shall call upon their Saviour's name, 

But unredeemed, go to the gaping grave. 

Thousands shall deem it an old woman's tale, 

Such as the nurses frighten babes withal. 

These in a gulf of anguish and of flame 

Shall curse their reprobation endlessly. 

Yet ten-fold pangs shall force them to avow, 

Even on their beds of torment, where they howl, 

My honor, and the justice of their doom. 

What, then, avail their virtuous deeds, their thoughts 

Of purity, with radiant genius bright, 

Or lit with human reason's earthly ray 1 

Many are called, but few I will elect. 

Do thou my bidding, Moses ! " — Shelley. 

Such, kind reader, is Anthropomorphism dissected. It was 
founded in superstition, promulgated to effect selfish ends, and 
is overthrown by correct reason. In sorrow do we behold the 
benighted condition of its unfortunate victims. But we are 
consoled in the idea, that in a future day they will be emanci- 
pated from this thraldom, and, by wisdom's aid, seek more 
congenial spheres. 

Up to our day metaphysics have exerted little or no influ- 
ence over the minds of men. Brilliant minds have passed from 
the sphere of action and their records are confined in the 
bounds of a few. The Platonic philosophy of mind was almost 
extinguished for centuries, but is now beginning to revive. 
Plato taught that ideas are all that exist — that they are 
innate, and compose the entire universe. Aristotle taught 
that the ideas admitted by Plato were prior to all knowledge 
in man ; that ideas are not innate, but come to us through the 
mind, and are impressed on the intelligence, as accident and 
design may stamp them. This doctrine came into disrepute 
because it only applied to the intelligence and understanding, 
and could not account for the affectional department of our 



ANTHROPOMORPHISM DISSECTED. 51 

nature. Aristotle was correct as far as he went. Platonists 
became dissatisfied, when they saw that men with the same 
ideas did not act in the same manner. This was owing to 
a difference in affectional development, and can be ex- 
plained only by admitting a variety in sensation, which gives 
rise to voluntary motion, occasioned by ideas exerting influ- 
ences on the different affectional organs, which cause action in 
an exact ratio to the degree of their development in their 
several departments. Variety applies to species, which are of 
the genera, which is sensation. A blending of the Platonic 
and Peripatetic doctrines is necessary to account for all mental 
phenomena. 

Mr. Locke has concentrated his entire energies to prove the 
fallacy of innate ideas. Kant recognized ideas as represent- 
ations of bodies, and admits interior impulse. The ancient 
Pyrrho rejected the doctrine of intuition, and taught that the 
external world was a mere appearance ; while Bishop Berkeley 
having failed, as he thought, to demonstrate the existence of 
anything else in nature besides God and minds taught in con- 
sequence, that all the phenomena daily witnessed were nothing 
but a succession of shows ordered by Deity ; that these were 
totally destitute of reality in themselves, and if there was no 
mind there would not be the slightest trace of matter. Epicu- 
rus taught that all objects were constantly throwing off ema- 
nations similar to themselves in shape, color, odor, etc., and 
as a consequence of this, that memory was a collection of 
material, although miniature houses, trees, animals, cattle, 
etc., — in other words, a microscopic toy-shop. 

The followers of Epicurus held the mortality of the soul, 
and lived honest, virtuous lives. Instead of participating in 
those bloody scenes of gallantry which characterize the 
Anthropomorphists and believers in immortality, their love 
fur morality was unbounded, and their benevolence induced 
them to rear orphan children, and qualify them for useful 
pursuits. 

Another sect, the Skeptics, was esteemed by many as the 



52 ANTHROPOMORPHISM DISSECTED. 

most modest, the most perspicuous of all sects. " They neither 
affirmed nor denied any thing, but doubted of all things. 
They thought all our knowledge seemed rather like truth, than 
to be really true, and that for such like reasons as these : 1. They 
denied any knowledge of the Divine Nature, because, they say, 
to know adequately is to comprehend, and to comprehend is to 
contain, and the thing contained must be less than that which 
contains it ; to know inadequately is not to know. 2. From 
the uncertainty of our senses, as for instance, our eyes repre- 
sent things at a distance to be less than they really are. A 
straight stick in the water appears crooked ; the moon to be 
no bigger than a cheese ; the sun greater at rising and setting 
than at noon. The shore seems to move, and the ship to stand 
still ; square things to be round at a distance ; an erect pillar 
to be less at the top. Neither, (say they,) do we know whether 
objects are really as our eyes represent them to us ; for the 
same thing which seems white to us, seems yellow to a jaun- 
diced man, and red to a creature afflicted with red eyes : also, 
if a man rub his eyes, the figure which he beholds, seems long 
or narrow, and, therefore, it is not improbable that goats, cats, 
and other creatures, which have long pupils of the eye, may 
think those things long which we call round ; for as glasses 
represent the object variously, according to their shape, so it 
may be with our eyes. And so the sense of hearing deceives. 
Thus, the echo of a trumpet, sounded in a valley, makes the 
sound seem beyond us, when it is behind us. Besides, how 
can we think an ear, which has a narrow passage, can receive 
the same sound with that which has a wide one? Or the ear, 
whose inside is full of hair, to hear the same as a smoother 
ear ? Experience tells us that if we stop, or half stop, our 
ears, the sound cometh different from what it does when the 
ears are open. Nor is the smelling, taste, or touch less sub- 
ject to mistake ; for the same scents please some, and displease 
others; and so in our tastes. To a rough and dry tongue that 
very thing seems bitter? (as in an ague,) which to the most 
moist tongue seems otherwise, and so it is in other creatures. 



ANTHROPOMORPHISM DISSECTED. 53 

The like is true of the touch r for it were absurd to think that 
those creatures which are covered with shells, scales, or hair, 
should have the same sense in touching, with those that are 
smooth. Thus, one and the same object is diversely judged of, 
according to the various qualities of the instruments of sense, 
which convinceth to the imagination ; from which the skeptic 
concludes, that what these things are in their own nature, 
whether red, white, bitter, or sweet, he cannot tell ; for, says 
he, why should I prefer my own conceit in affirming the nature 
of things to be thus, or thus, because it seemeth so to me — 
when other living creatures, perhaps, think it is otherwise ? 
But the greatest fallacy is in the operation of our inward 
senses ; for the fancy is sometimes persuaded that it hears and 
sees what it does not, and our reasoning is so weak, that in 
many instances scarce one demonstration is found, though this 
alone produces science. Now, although this doctrine be very 
inconsistent with Christianity, yet I could wish Adam had been 
of this persuasion, for then he would not have mortgaged his 
posterity for the purchase of a twilight knowledge."^ 

Out of the philosophy of Epicurus and the Skeptics, origi- 
nated the most wholesome system of morals ever introduced into 
the world. Epicurus says : " It is the interest of every indi- 
vidual in a state to conform to the laws of justice ; for by 
injuring no one, and rendering to every man his due, he con- 
tributes his part towards the preservation of that society, upon 
the perpetuity of which his own safety depends." Never will 
society improve in morals till taught and enlightened on the 
subject of responsibility. Every man must pay the debt of his 
own contraction, whether physical or moral, and until he is 
taught this, society will abound in crime. Thomas Paine says : 
11 When men are taught to ascribe all their crimes and vices 
to the temptations of the Devil, and to believe that Jesus, by 
his death, rubs all off and pays their passage to heaven gratis, 

* Blount's Anima Mundi, or History of the Opinions of the Heathens on 
the Immortality of the Soul. 

5* 



54 ANTHROPOMORPHISM DISSECTED. 

they become as careless in morals as a spendthrift would be of 
money, were he told that his father had engaged to pay off all 
his scores. It is a doctrine, not only dangerous ttf morals in 
this world, but to our happpiness in the next world, because 
it holds out such a cheap, easy, and lazy way of getting to 
heaven; as has a tendency to induce men to hug the delusion 
of it to their own injury." * 

Man, as a finite being, is subject to the laws which govern 
his physical and spiritual natures, and cannot by a belief, 
bring Divine vengeance upon himself, for the order of nature is 
fixed ; but he may by his actions put himself in such relations 
to the Divine law that he will suffer the penalty consequent 
upon such relation, which penalty is but a monitor to warn 
him of such false relation, so that he may return to the true 
or harmonious condition of the law. Suppose, for instance, I 
had, by carelessness or otherwise, violated a law of caloric and 
become severely burnt, the pain consequent upon this burn, was 
so excruciating, that your sympathy was excited to the extent 
that you proposed to take upon yourself the responsibility, and 
that I might be free from pain ! Would that ameliorate my 
condition. No, for it requires sensation to direct and control 
the curative properties of the system, and no other way can 
suffice but that established in the law of such existence. So in 
the moral world. If we have transgressed a moral law, there 
is a monitor within warning us of the wrong committed ; and 
this monition can only be hushed by making a restitution ; then 
there is no cause for reproach, as the debt has been fully met. 
Thus it is that punishment, as Divinely inflicted, has for its 
aim reformation ; and did we imitate this Divine example in 
our national proceedings, instead of inflicting punishment as a 
retribution, our country would soon be purged of that villany 
with which it now so plentifully abounds. 

Again, Atheism and Immaterial ism, are said to be the anti- 
podes in theology. But when each is critically examined in 

* Ago of Reason. 



ANTHROPOMORPHISM DISSECTED. 55 

its results, there is no difference in their philosophy. Atheists 
believe that sensation, thought, and consciousness depend on 
organized matter for their existence, and that such existence 
ceases when organization is destroyed. Immaterialists believe, 
at death the body returns to dust and the soul to God, who 
gave it. (This is Pantheism with a vengeance.) Atheists 
believe, that the identity of bodies are lost by decomposing into 
their original elements ; while Immaterialists believe, from 
ancient traditions, that on a final day of judgment, sometime 
in the future, the soul will become united with the body, and 
the being will possess the same nature as existed before death. 
The only difference is a belief. The Atheist, possessing a more 
positive mind than the Immaterialist, is not convinced with the 
same testimony. He relies more on philosophy, and adopts 
Hume's motto, " that it is contrary to experience, that a 
miracle should be true, but it is not contrary to experience that 
testimony should be false." He expects to perfect his exist- 
ence here, and lives with that end in view. The Imma- 
terialist expects to live hereafter — thinks this world's a fleeting 
show, a bad place at best, lives fast, gets through quick, risks 
his responsibility on a vicarious atonement, and is ready to 
leave at any time. 

When Anthropomorphism is discarded, we will look to other 
sources for the causes of crime. As we have denied the Devil's 
influence, whence cometh evil ? I answer, from the undue 
and inharmonious development of the different departments of 
our nature. A combination of elements has made all men, 
and circumstances have made the differences. I do not believe 
all things were pre-ordained, but that all things are so from 
necessity. But, says one, you do not believe in free agency, 
the freedom of the will ! I know man can act if he wills, but 
to say that man will if he will, I take to be an absurdity. 
Surrounded by circumstances, without his request, he is 
influenced according to the impressions made upon him. Hence, 
certain influences tend to good, while others tend to evil. A 
man born in low and vicious circumstances, and reared amid 



56 ANTHROPOMORPHISM DISSECTED. 

the same, is fulfilling the discords of his being by theft and 
robbery, the same as a preacher's sou, who has been reared 
amid adverse circumstances, is, when singing and praying. 
Man is so related to the external world, that there is a recip- 
rocal action existing between his desires and the objects 
sought ; and he wills from circumstances to accomplish certain 
ends. And to divorce the object from the desire, or vice versa, 
is to destroy the power of will. 

Then, when this truth is recognized we will treat criminals 
more humanely; pitying rather than cursing them, thereby 
awakening in them a respect for us which death cannot de- 
stroy. Address man in authoritative tones of vengeance, and 
he curses you in his heart ; but approach him gently, and with 
kind words, and you overcome a stern will, a hard heart, 
which soon begins to melt and dissolve before soothing tones of 
speech, so that no trace of envy or corruption is left behind. 
This important truth was taught by Confucius, Socrates, and 
Jesus, the exemplars of morals. Would that their pretended 
followers did conform to their teachings. But methinks you 
say, without the Bible we would sink into barbarism ; for, it 
exists where civilization reigns, and as the cause from whence 
enlightenment, the fine arts, and the sciences derive their 
existence. This is not true. The Bible exists in all countries 
where printing brings to the publisher net profits. Instead of 
civilization following the Bible, the Bible has followed civiliza- 
tion. Instead of enhancing the progress of the sciences, it has 
retarded them. There is not a science extant but what has 
been opposed by Bible devotees. G-allileo was persecuted by 
those who esteemed the Bible above all things, for promulgat- 
ing his discoveries in Astronomy. Harvey was condemned and 
censured, for discovering the circulation of the blood. Jenncr, 
the discoverer of vaccination, whereby we could prevent small- 
pox, was persecuted from the same source, till he died of 
actual starvation^ Also Gall was relentlessly persecuted for 
discovering the science of Phrenology, which has shed more 
light on Human Nature and done more to enlighten mankind, 



ANTHROPOMORPHISM DISSECTED. 57 

on the true nature of his existence, than the combined influ- 
ences of church and metaphysical dogmas. It is often said that 
the Bible carries internal evidence of its being the Word of 
God. I admit there are many moral truths in that book, but 
they are interspersed among many absurd and false doctrines ; 
and as a whole we might safely call it a salmagundi mixture, 
a book of historical references, but not of authority. We are 
told by John, in his gospel, that no man has ever seen God at 
any time, but Moses says Abraham talked to God face to 
face ! How do you reconcile this palpable contradiction ? If 
God had desired to reveal a written will of his to man, he 
would, of course, have done it in simple language, and a tangi- 
ble form, so that it would need no aid from Rev. Doctors of 
Divinity to arrange, re-arrange, and help him as much as their 
abilities would admit, to make it intelligible. Even this 
essay, penned by a youth of twenty -two summers, needs no 
expounder to tell the people what it means ; and certainly the 
word of an All-Wise and Beneficent Providence, would tran- 
scend this as far as the meridian sun is above the pale twi- 
light of the evening moon. Now in view of these facts, and 
many others, who will affirm the beneficial influence exerted by 
the Bible on the sciences. Who dare affirm this absurdity, 
but bigoted preachers and superstitious priests ? Let it pass 
away as one of the false premises on which the Anthropomor- 
phic doctrine is based. 

We should keep in mind the difference between religion and 
theology, and recognize them separately. Religion is the 
impulse of the soul, the divine aspiration, seeking its own of 
truth and goodness from the great universelum. Theology is 
the outlet of that aspiration through the intellectual faculties. 
Religion, in its natural state, has no outlet, but its devotions 
are one continual aspiration. Theology necessarily circum- 
scribes devotion, whose worship is seen in forms and ceremon- 
ies. It is a compend of faith, superstition, unseen things and 
unknown causes, and has enstamped upon its face self-evident 
absurdity and falsehood; which all rational beings can per- 



58 ANTHROPOMORPHISM DISSECTED. 

ceive at first sight. Paul's definition of faith is repudiated by 
aii scientists and logicians. See it carried into practice by 
the different nations of the earth. See the wife on the funeral 
pile of her dead husband, offering herself to the Unseen ! See 
that mother as she throws the darling babe of her bosom into 
the mouth of the crocodile, as an offering to the Unknown ! 
See the poor Hindoo as he throws himself beneath the wheels 
of Juggernaut, to appease the wrath of a being of whom he 
knows nothing ! See the poor Calvinist on his dying bed, half 
frightened out of his senses for fear that he is one of the rep- 
robate ! Yes, observe the whole of Christendom, as it reverently 
sacrifices to an unknown Grod, who did commit sacrifices upon 
himself, to appease his own wrath, — and then say, Theology ! 
curses be upon thy head ! depart ye into everlasting nothing- 
ness, where you shall be forgotten and only remembered among 
the things that were. 

Then the divine model of right will triumph over might, and 
there will be no more bigots and Pharisees, no Jews nor Gen- 
tiles, no Christians, Pagans, or Mohammedans ; but one uni« 
versal brotherhood, cemented by love, and progressing in truth 
and knowledge, will enter into the joys of wisdom, the abode 
of angels in Heaven. " Prove all things," reject the unseen, 
and let your actions before men be such as will induce them to 
become good also. 

But let not the rivers of earth run blood — caused from the- 
ological differences, nor nation set against nation, nor man 
against his bosom companion ; for the religious impulse, when 
excited and misdirected, will even war against itself. Mad- 
dened with the phrenzy of insane remorse for imaginary crime, 
it leaves the palaces of Europeam luxury to pine away in mon- 
astic cells; fired with the rage of infatuated bigotry, it surren- 
ders chambers of ease, for stony caves and smoky walls ; and 
subdued to mental fatuity and hopeless disease, it pines a 
mischievous existence, of fears, sighs, and uncharitable feelings ; 
and when excited by fearful tones of pulpit thunder, it raises 
shouts and hosannas in the names of Brahma, Chrishna, Christ, 



ANTHROPOMORPHISM DISSECTED. 59 

^lohammed ; sees heavenly Kings, triune Gods, earth-born 
deities, and heaven-born prophets, with saints, devils, angels, 
ghosts and hobgoblins. 

In concluding this essaj', I warn you against too hastily 
rejecting these doctrines. You should study them carefully, 
and reject them as you prove their fallacy, and see their infe- 
riority to existing doctrines. 

You should first study yourself and your relation to others, 
and then study others and their relation to yourself; then you 
will have a system of political economy far superior to any 
coming from legislative halls. Let your daily prayer consist 
in an incessant aspiration after truth and goodness. Let your 
daily walks be upright ; and endeavor to beget in others the 
same condition, and the result will be indescribable. 

You will hear the well known voice from within, crying 
honor and glory to all created things, in heaven and in earth, 
and under the earth ; for by harmony all things are made new. 
Yes, discord is swallowed up in harmony, and sorrow, and 
crying, and pain, are heard no more. Greeted by music from 
angelic spheres, the clouds and skies above, and animals and 
fishes beneath, you will contribute to your happiness, as you 
pass along the meandering scenes through an unlimited eternity, 



SPIRITUALISM VINDICATED. 



Thomas Paine, in his thoughts on a future state, said, " I 
consider myself in the hands of my Creator, and that he will 
dispose of me after this life, consistent with his justice and 
goodness. I leave these matters to him as my Creator and 
friend, and I hold it to be presumption in man to make an 
article of faith as to what the Creator will do with me here- 
after." Mr. Paine had an inalienable right to his opinion ; so 
have I and all others the same right to inquire into the state 
of our existence hereafter, and to believe according to the con- 
victions made upon our minds; and we also possess the right 
to promulgate that opinion so far as reason and common sense 
will enable us. Yet I agree with Mr. Paine, and hold that it 
is not only sacriligious, but tyrannical and degrading, to pro- 
mulgate opinions by authority. If opinions will not stand on 
their own merits, let them go by the board, and let the opinions 
of ancient writers, whether they purport to be apostolic or 
inspired, come under the same law. For how can we determine 
the true from the false, only by comparing the evidences, pro 
et con ? Let this be sufficient to overthrow the ipse dixit of 
any ancient chieftain, whether it be Zoroaster, Moses, Mo- 
hammed, Paul, Confucius, or others. Let the oracle of reason 
sway ; let passion become subservient to its mandates ; as it 
shines round and about us as the pure light of heaven ; let us fol- 
low its teachings and fear no evil, and soon will the individual 
be swallowed up in the Absolute Conscience. 

From a careful study of all the theologies, I find that diver- 
sity of opinion does not arise from a difference in the structure 
of man's spiritual or mental nature; but men take for granted 
whatever they are told, and dogmatically assume its truthful- 
6 



62 SPIRITUALISM VINDICATED. 

ness ; from such hypotheses they rear innumerable theoriesf^n- 
comprehensible and nonsensical to rational and scientific minds ; 
which mystery is to the ignorant bona fide evidence that such 
is inspired, and past man's feeble ability to ever find out. 
Thus, from ignorance arose absurdity, which superstition sus- 
tained. From facts we glean knowledge, but assumption 
attained the ascendency ; and knowing from experience, that 
by testimony we were liable to imbibe error, it is easy to ac- 
count for the various and conflicting opinions in which the 
world so plentifully abounds. Dr. J. Gr. Spurzheim says, " we 
can acquire knowledge only by observing and inducing ; for 
reflection will no more reveal to man his own nature, than it 
will give him information of external objects, with their phys- 
ical qualities and their relations. The study of man by the 
a 'priori method for reflection, has retarded the knowledge of 
his nature extremely. Every one who entered on the subject 
assumed himself as the type of the whole species, confounded 
his own peculiarities with the essential or general constitution 
of humanity, as if one blind from birth should do well in imag- 
ining all mankind similarly circumstanced. Hence arose as 
many systems of mental philosophy as there are thinkers."^ 

All men are the same in the elements of their being. They 
differ only in the degree of development of these elements, 
which is caused by the influences surrounding them. Our 
affectional nature is developed by influences impressionally 
made upon it, and the intellectual faculties are developed by 
images made thereon. Hence we become conscious of im- 
pressions through our affections, and of images through our 
intellects. As we are governed by the predominance of our 
mental nature, we will be influenced by our affection or intel- 
lect, according to their development. Hence it is, that in our 
present circumstances, we differ on points of doctrine, without 
the least probability of ever agreeing, so long as we remain in 
different conditions ; for each relies on that testimony which 

* Natural Laws of Man. 



SPIRITUALISM VINDICATED. 63 

see#s to him, from his own stand point or development, to be 
the most rational. The conclusion of the Calvinist, that God 
pre-ordained a portion of his children to eternal misery, is not 
arrived at by any sense of the affections, but is purely an intel- 
lectual conclusion, deduced from authority and reason alone. 
The doctrine of human free agency, is not arrived at by reason 
or an intellectual conclusion, but from a sense of affection that 
such is true. The former conclusion is deduced from the in- 
tellect, the latter from the affections. It is an easy matter for 
an observer of human nature, to select out of a strange crowd, 
persons of different religious opinions, merely from their phy- 
siological and phrenological departments and developments. 
In our former essay, we have overthrown Anthropomorphism; 
in this we propose to vindicate Spiritualism. 

By Spiritualism, I mean that doctrine which teaches the 
residence of an animate living principle in all matter, which 
actuates and moves it according to its various degrees of sus- 
ceptibility. Plato supposed two eternal and independent causes 
of all things ; one that by which all things are made, which is 
(xod ; the other, that from which all things are made, whieh is 
matter. This doctrine has been established by the revelations 
of modern science. All philosophers of the present age con- 
tend that matter is eternal and indestructible ; and that it 
requires an induction or indwelling law or principle, by which 
it can assume form, dimension and power. Swedenborg and 
Fourier taught that this active principle which regulates and 
moves the universe, existed in series or degrees, from the most 
outer manifestation up to Being itself; they formed one con- 
tinuous chain with its many links. Aristotle affirmed the 
eternity of form and shape in matter. But from the progressive 
condition which the universe presents ; the regularity of its 
development, as revealed through the sciences, warrant us in 
the conclusion, that it was formerly in an amorphous state. 
The Stoics imbibed most of their philosophy from the Platonists. 
They considered Deity as nothing more than the active motion 
of a celestial ether, or fire, possessed of intelligence, which 



64 SPIRITUALISM VINDICATED. 

at first gave form to the shapeless mass of gross matter, and 
being always essentially united to the visible world by the 
same necessary agency, preserves its order and harmony. Their 
idea of Providence is, not that of a being wholly independent 
of matter, freely directing and governing all things, but that 
of a necessary chain of causes and effects, arising from the 
action of a power which is, of itself, a part of the existence 
which it regulates, and which equally, with that existence, is 
subject to the immutable law of necessity. Providence, in 
their creed, is only another name for absolute necessity, or 
fate, to which God and matter, or the universe, which consists 
of both, are immutably subject. 

We believe that matter, in its inert, confused, amorphous 
nature, is subject to the influence of laws which rise one above 
another in series or degrees, forming a chain which binds the 
universe in all its parts, so minutely connecting it that an 
impression made in one department, necessarily affects all other 
departments. Influenced by these laws in their respective 
relations, new manifestations are being presented in such 
uniformity, that we have styled this mode of natural procedure, 
progressive development. 

Matter, in its primary state, becomes susceptible of motion 
by the induction of electricity into it, and assumes the nebulous 
condition. By induction, I mean an impartation of quality, 
from a positive to a negative substance, which occasions a 
reciprocal action between them. When this condition is at- 
tained, we have, what is called by electricians, a primary and 
a secondary current ; the latter existing in the former, is con- 
trolled and directed by it. Now when matter has passed to 
the ultimate stage of development in the first degree of motion, 
it then becomes susceptible of induction, from another and 
higher degree of spirit, and assumes a new principle of action. 
In this degree, we have form in the mineral kingdom, produced 
out of nebula. In the next degree, we have induced into form 
a condition which makes it receptive of life, and thus we have 
the vegetable kingdom. The passage from the mineral into 



SPIRITUALISM VINDICATED. 65 

it, is so slow and imperceptible "that it is impossible for the 
naturalist to tell accurately, where the one begins and the 
other ends." We next arrive at the animal kingdom, or de- 
gree of consciousness, and when perfection is attained in this 
degree, it is susceptible to the induction of another degree of 
consciousness — self-consciousness, or soul of the universe, 
which is the highest degree of spirit : An end to which every 
law of the universe is adapted to contribute. Spirit and mat- 
ter is the cause; law is the means; existence, development, 
and progression are the end or effect. It is not necessary for 
us to go outside of spirit, matter, and the universe, to find an 
intelligent cause as the Creator; but look within, and there 
we find the immortal germ. The Anthropomorphists are 
rather sophistic with their logic, in endeavoring to sustain their 
doctrines; for, according to their own position, primary intel- 
ligence is dependent on organization for its existence, conse- 
quently organization needs an organizer; hence we would have 
to infer the necessity of a God maker, as a universe maker; 
but the doctrine of Spiritualism is adequate to explain all the 
phenomena of Anthropomorphism, and to silence at once the 
doctrines of Dr. Paley. 

We can with more consistency agree with Anaxagoras, that 
an intelligent conscious principle permeates and pervades the 
universe and is inherent in all things, or adopt the more radi- 
cal Pantheistic doctrine, " that matter and its qualities or 
conditions are the only existences, and that the force?, per- 
vading matter and inherent in it, are the divine existence, 
which comes to consciousness only in man." * We observe in 
the Spiritualistic doctrine a system of improvement, and when 
applied to explain the destiny of the universe, it perceives a 
progressive tendency in all things, which shadows forth its 
ultimate in harmony, like the twig in reference to the oak. 
In opposition to this doctrine is the popular hypothesis that 
the world was perfect at first, but fell into derangement, con- 

* Plea for Pantheism, by John S. Hittle, in his Evidences against Chris- 
tianity. 

fi* 



66 SPIRITUALISM VINDICATED. 

tinues in disorder, and does not contain within itself the ele- 
ments of its own rectification. In a review of these two 
doctrines, George Combe sums up the duty of man as follows : 
" If the former view be sound, the first object of man, as an 
intelligent being, in quest of happiness, must be to study the 
elements of eternal nature and their capabilities ; the element- 
ary qualities of his own nature and their applications; and 
the relationship between these. His second object will be to 
discover and carry into effect the conditions, — physical, moral, 
and intellectual, which in virtue of this constitution, require 
to be realized before the fullest enjoyment of which he is capa- 
ble can be attained. 

" According to the second view of creation, no good can be 
expected from the evolution of nature's elements, these being 
all essentially disordered ; and human improvement and enjoy- 
ment must be derived chiefly from spiritual influences. If the 
one hypothesis be sound, man must fulfil the natural condi- 
tions requisite to the existence of religion, morality, and 
happiness, before he can reap full benefit from religious truth : 
according to the other, he must believe aright in religion, and 
be the subject of influences independent of natural causes, 
before he can become capable of any virtue or enjoyment; in 
short, according to it, science, philosophy, and all arrange- 
ments of the physical, moral, and intellectual elements of 
nature, are subordinate in their effects on human happiness on 
earth, to religious faith." * 

As the doctrine of a once perfect and subsequent disorder of 
the world, was founded in an age of barbarism and superstition, 
before philosophy shed her genial rays upon the world ; as it 
is contradicted by evidences in natural theology and the 
sciences ; a book in which no interpolation can be written ; a 
scroll so universal that the world may look and learn ; we feel 
safe in the conclusion that popular theology is founded on an 
erroneous basis, and cannot stand by the doctrines which are 

* Constitution of Man, by George Combe. 



SPIRITUALISM VINDICATED. 



67 



now being developed by the aid of philosophy and the sciences. 
Popular theology is not warranted in the conclusion that the 
human race is totally depraved by virtue of Adam's fall, 
because we see the lustful tendency of mankind ! It is a 
philosophical necessity that lust and antagonism should exist 
from the very nature of progression itself. The idea of pro- 
gression, development, and growth, implies an imperfect con- 
dition, of which discord is an element, but predicts an end to 
be attained, which is perfect, harmonious, and divine. As it 
is the nature of selfishness to individualize, it is primary to 
social, intellectual, and moral law; hence its ascendency and 
predominance in human nature. But when the conditions are 
attained, necessary for social, intellectual, and moral law to 
advance and maturely develop, then they will hold selfishness 
in subjection, and discord, which originates selfishness, will be 
swallowed up in harmony, which originates in our moral 
nature, it being directed by the intellect. We have not passed 
out of the old dispensation, the age of force and power ; but 
continue as in past ages to put new wine into old bottles, by 
enveloping truth in the garb of authority. 

I will show that man is governed in his intellectual and 
moral natures by fixed laws ; and that a violation of, or a 
false relation to these laws, begets misery and trouble, the 
same as the violation of a physical law begets pain and dis- 
ease. If this position can be maintained, the doctrine of 
supernaturalism, miracles, and divine specialities will be over- 
thrown. We will show that special pardon from God, called 
conversion, which gives the masses such unbounded conviction, 
and experimental knowledge in his special power, and such 
implicit faith in sectarian dogmas, is produced by natural laws 
in conformity to the established order of nature. That our 
intellectual and moral nature is related to our physical nature, 
is shown in many instances. Immaterialists and others who 
deny that the mind is related to the body and susceptible to 
its influence, cannot account for the intellectual and moral 
phenomena produced by drunkenness, disease, and insanity ; 



68 



SPIRITUALISM VINDICATED. 



but they are explained when we bring to our aid the science of 
Phrenology, that science which teaches that the cause of intelli- 
gence and moral feeling is in the interior and superior lobes of 
the brain. A doctrine which has been established by the 
Baconian system of reasoning, which has advanced by the aid 
of facts and principles into the ranks of the sciences. Phren- 
ological science establishes the doctrine, that our intellectual 
and moral nature is as our physical, governed by fixed and 
invariable laws, and that a violation or wrong relation of them 
to the laws by which they are governed, begets pain, disease, 
and mental fatuity, which can be cured only by returning to 
the true relation from which they have departed.^ Now we 
will show how it is that conversion, regeneration, new 
birth, or a change of heart, as such phenomenon is usually 
called, is produced. 

In our usual avocations, pecuniary, domestic, etc., we habit- 
uate ourselves to a uniformity or custom, which becomes, to us, 
our nature or sphere. Hence it is a common and truthful 
remark, that persons are out of their sphere, when they are 
placed in circumstances or grades of society to which they 
were never before accustomed or habituated. They do not feel 
as before, they are out of their sphere and experience a change. 
Now the first thing necessary to conversion, is to make the 
subject believe that he is a vile, corrupt, polluted sinner; that 
all his thoughts and actions are wicked ; that he stands in 
opposition to the will of a jealous, sin-avenging God ; who has 
power to shake him over hell in a trice if he only would. Thus 
you have excited two departments of his nature, viz. : — Con- 



* To stop here and prove the accuracy of phrenological science, from 
which we deduce our conclusions, would be out of place. We hope there 
are none in this day, who have claims in scientific att linments, that have 
barred their intellects against investigation in this department. It would 
bo folly indeed, if those professing to be scientists, to dispute or reject their 
opponent's logic, which is axiomatic or self-evident, deduced from mathe- 
matical premises or otherwise, simply because they are not acquainted or 
conversant with that department of science. 



SPIRITUALISM VINDICATED. 69 

scientiousness, which makes him feel that he has done wrong, 
and wishes to remunerate ; and cautiousness, which makes him 
afraid that he will be overtaken in his wickedness, by bis Maker. 
This much, by theologians, is called conviction. Now, in this 
state of feeling, like those of old, he cries aloud, What shall I 
do to be saved ? The preacher tells him to repent ; to pray 
with all his soul and strength. (In so doing he passes out of 
his usual sphere.) He prays devotedly hour after hour ; at 
intermediate times his thoughts are constantly in that direc- 
tion, and eventually, after continued prayer and supplications, he 
feels that he is a changed man, having entered a new sphere ; 
he cannot perceive the cause which produced the change, hence 
he is fully convinced in his own mind that God has specially 
pardoned his sins ; and on relating the present state of his 
feelings to those who have passed through a similar state, it is 
corroborated by their own experience, and thus he is more fully 
convinced than before, that he is a regenerated being, having 
found grace in the sight of God. 

Now, has there been a special favor of Providence ; a miracle 
wrought, or merely a change of mind in a direction it has never 
before experienced ? The conclusion attending the working of 
a miracle, and a special providence, is the want of wisdom and 
power in the Creator, that at first all things might have been 
made pure and holy, in the mechanism and arrangement of the 
universe. 

But the working of a miracle is consistent with the Anthro- 
pomorphic doctrine, that God interposes, hardens hearts, and 
tries man's faith ; is influenced by our acts, and, forsooth ! pro- 
fits by our instructions, and acts in conformity thereto.^ 

But if we conclude that the change is only in the new direc- 
tion which the mind has taken, and that the convert has mis- 
taken the feelings produced by the new sphere for the special 
favor of God, then we have the conversion produced in accord- 
ance with natural laws. There has been a mental change from 

* Gen. xviii : 23, 33. 



70 SPIRITUALISM VINDICATED. 

the animal and social to the moral nature, which change neces- 
sarily produced the strange feelings. This conclusion is more 
fully sustained by the manner in which those persons act after 
this impression has been made upon them. When the excite- 
ment which produced it has been removed, and previous cir- 
cumstances begin to address the convert, he passes back into 
his former sphere, and although he is a member of the church, 
he is the same person in principle that he was before. If he 
was mean and avaricious before conversion, he is afterwards ; 
and it is exceedingly hard in the common walks of life to tell 
the convert from the sinner. However, there are three signs 
by which we can distinguish one from the other. 1st, The 
convert is seen occupying the front seats in church. 2d, He 
is not allowed the privilege of participating in an innocent 
game of cards, nor an evening's recreation by engaging in a 
social dance. 3d, He is not allowed to advocate doctrines 
which are not in conformity with those prescribed by the sect 
to which he belongs; provided he does, he is looked on as 
dangerous to their cause; and if he does not reform after a 
few admonitions from some of the elders of the church, he is 
excommunicated as a heretic. There is quite a difference in 
the ethics of Jesus, and those of the church which professes to 
adopt them. Jesus taught that the world, to become harmo- 
nious, must put away its lusts. What is called modern Chris- 
tianity, does not teach this. I speak from a knowledge gained 
from the lives of its professors. I understand the term, put- 
ting away our lusts, to mean all unnecessary things, and the 
desire for such things as contribute merely to our gratification. 
This is equally applicable to our physical, social, intellectual, 
and moral plane of lite. For it is the nature of lust to over- 
come or destroy everything between itself and the object 
sought, thereby producing antagonism or misery in others, and 
in self also ; hence the necessity of putting away our lusts be- 
fore reconciliation can be accomplished. This is quite different 
from the way we are at present taught to approach the Divine. 
In fact we are taught to seek salvation through our selfishness 



SPIRITUALISM VINDICATED 



1 



or lusts, for the great argument presented to us as a reason 
why we should seek the Lord is, for fear that we shall be for- 
ever lost and miserable in future life. What is this but an 
appeal to our selfishness? Yet it is in opposition to the teach- 
ing of the great Exemplar, who said, " He that seeketh to 
save his life shall lose it." It is this very thing of trying to 
save ourselves which damns the world. We can be saved 
through good works alone, fajth being necessary only to stimu- 
late us to action. In helping others, we receive the joys of the 
Lord into our souls as a consequence. Then I perceive that 
which is necessary to become a Christian, is to put away our 
lusts. Is this done by professing Christians ? I find that alco- 
hol, tobacco, tea, coffee, and many other obnoxious articles are 
used among professing Christians. Each of these articles is 
ruinous and destructive, to both soul and body. Why are they 
used? Only to gratify a lustful desire, a self-gratification, irre- 
spective of need or use. Can any one be a Christian, and use 
such articles ? I answer, no. The question simply is, have we 
put away our lusts ? Society has made a multitude of lusts or 
sins respectable, under the cloak of fashion and custom, but 
lust is lust, whether it exists in Alimentiveness or Amative- 
ness, whether it be fashionable or objectionable, and is recog- 
nized as such by the eternal laws of our being. There is not a 
more destructive practice in the universe than tight lacing, the 
result of which is, vitality is crushed from its citadel of action, 
which enables disease and death to prey upon the constitution. 
Yet this is a fashionable practice, practiced by professing 
Christians. Why is it done ? Is it an actual need ? Does it 
subserve some necessary end, as taught by the meek and lowly 
Jesus ? Does it contribute to ameliorate suffering humanity, 
or is it done to appease a lustful, deranged Approbativeness ? 
We have heard of the injurious fashions practiced by Chinese 
women, of pressing their feet out of shape ; but this is a matter 
of little importance when compared to that of crushing the 
lungs and heart, which give life and vigor to our system, and 
causes it to thrill to the remotest capillaries. And when the 



72 SPIRITUALISM VINDICATED. 

pale cheek announces the ravages of consumption, and the 
death bell tolls the solemn knell of earthly departure, the gen- 
tleman of the cloth stands with solemn looks on the church ros- 
trum, and consoles the relatives and friends of the deceased by 
informing them that kind Providence has taken one from their 
midst into the realms of glory, that others might be brought to 
a serious consideration of his power and mercy. Fashion has 
killed a Christian ! What pious sacrilege ! A fashionable 
Christian ! What an idea ! What inconsistency ! Could talk 
of a pleasant pain or hot ice, with as much consistency. But 
perchance a moral and philanthropic man should die, who 
never committed a dozen sins, though he has not attached his 
name to any church records ; we are told that the chances are 
against him, and that it is exceedingly doubtful whether he has 
entered into the joys of heaven. 

We can do Grod no good by offering him sacrifices and mem- 
orized prayers, acknowledging him as good, glorious, and 
merciful ! He is in no need of such. But we can do good by 
helping our neighbors ; by loving them as ourselves, by con- 
tributing aid and relief to the afflicted and unfortunate, and as 
we lift our needy friend, do we into superior joys ascend, and 
are thus blessed as we bless others. Each is commanded to 
contribute according to his possessions, and is blessed to that 
extent. The old idea, which is somewhat prevalent at this 
time, that certain persons are called to preach, is as nonsensical 
as the old monkish idea that it was enjoined upon them to 
seclude themselves in smoky caverns, and inflict sundry punish- 
ments upon their physical bodies, as a penance ; the propelling 
power is the same in each case, but unfortunately it is misdi- 
rected in both. 

So of theology, the religious principle is misdirected. It 
attempts to do, through forms and ceremonies, what has to be 
done through philanthropy and benevolence, viz. : come into 
Divine favor. Love thy neighbor as thyself, and in so doing 
you fulfil all the laws and commands. Did you love your 
neighbor as yourself, you would neither lie, hate, steal, cheat, 



SPIRITUALISM VINDICATED. 73 

commit adultery, bear false witness, nor do mischief of any 
kind ; for who would think of injuring himself, which would 
be the same under this circumstance. Theft, war, rapine and 
murder are founded in the law of lust, the love of self as 
superior to others ; and to discard these is to discard our lust. 
Jesus said he came not to take the law from man, but to raise 
man above the law. Were our love as strong for others as for 
ourselves, the law would die of itself — there would be no 
lawing. The judges, in a few years, would forget their cir- 
cuits. " Thy will be done on earth as it is done in Heaven." 
How ? By putting away the old devil, selfishness or lust, 
which claims unbounded sway and dominion over things that 
are not its own ; which, in its extravagant luxury, would take 
the bread from the orphan's lips to contribute to its own grati- 
fication. Thus the immortal Jesus portrayed the way so plain 
that the wayfaring man, though a fool, need not err. The 
mistake of theology is, that at death we pass directly into one 
of two eternal conditions, and which one of these depends on 
a correct belief in this life. This error has caused much specu- 
lation in theology, and induces theologians to lay such stress 
on faith. At death we only lay off this mortal coil or material 
body, and enter into a more interior, invisible spiritual existence, 
subject to the same laws we were before, susceptible to the same 
happiness or discontents, according to the relations we are in, 
and have as much power to shape our actions there as here. 
We will not have to provide for our physical bodies there ; and 
those who have made their physical appetites their Gods, while 
on earth, and have no higher ideal than their gratification, will 
of course be miserable, for their Gods have been taken from 
them. But those who have lived a moral, upright life, whose 
objects have been higher than a mere physical gain, will have 
nothing to fear when they pass beyond their mortal existence. 
This mortal body, or lump of clay, which we inhabit, possesses 
no power of its own. It is only organized and moved by the 
spirit dwelling within it. The nervous system is the medium, 
by which spirit controls matter, and sustains the same relation 
7 



74 SPIRITUALISM VINDICATED. 

between them that the umbilicus does between the fetus and 
the mother; and when the appropriate end is fulfilled, the tie is 
severed, and a new existence is ushered in. The inanimate 
body, deserted by its occupant, returns, and mingles with the 
dust, and the spirit into those mansions and spheres in 
which it finds congenial companions. The doctrine of a future 
day of judgment and resurrection of our once cast off bodies, has 
made more skeptics in the belief of a future state of conscious- 
ness than the combined writings of Hobbs and Hume. What 
sane and intelligent man can believe that this decayed body, 
which lies beneath the sod, will ever be awakened to conscious- 
ness ? What indications or testimony is there present in the 
universe that would justify us in such a conclusion ? Heathen 
philosophy is more consistent than the Christian doctrine on 
this subject. All nations believe in an immortal spiritual 
existence, save the skeptic Jew, and he must have a physical 
demonstration of his immortality, which narrative is so absurd 
that it requires much credulity to believe it. Mr. George 
Combe says : — " Beyond a doubt, Job, Ezekiel, and John, 
equally with Plato, Cicero, and the Christian fathers, conceived 
of spirit as nothing but thin matter, vapor, or gas ; and the 
philosophic idea of spirit now current in the regions of learning, 
is not older than the days of the European schoolmen." This 
doctrine was in conformity with the phenomenon of nature — 
the laws of progression, and is arrived at by a careful study of 
the unvarying laws which portray a finer organization in every 
subsequent development. But the tendency of the European 
schoolmen to rely, with implicit faith, on the teachings and 
authority of the early Christian fathers, has stripped truth of 
those laurels with which her brow was decorated, and has 
dressed their favorite doctrines in a garb which, in a season, 
won for them a position that is likely to stand for ages. The 
greatest minds worship at the shrine of authority ; and all new 
truths are attacked with a prejudice which makes them reel for 
a time; and were it not for the determination on the part of its 
discoverers to sustain it against the prejudices of these authori- 



SPIRITUALISM VINDICATED. 75 

tarians, it would fade away before their sophistry only to 
be reared in a future day, and then subject to a similar end. 
Science is made subservient to authority, and to prove the 
assertion of some bigoted friar, or religious father, it would 
pull the earth out of its orbit and throw the universe into con- 
fusion and disorder. " A few years ago phrenology was 
favorably received, by a certain religious class, because it was 
the philosophy of their peculiar views. The corruption of 
human nature is a fundamental point of doctrine with them ; 
and the large organs of Amativeness, Combativeness, Destruc- 
tiveness, Acquisitiveness, Secretiveness, etc., which the human 
head displayed, were hailed as so many philosophical evidences, 
coinciding with the testimony of scripture, in support of their 
position. For a season phrenology was patronized by this 
party, and recommended to the approbation of its adherents. 
But when phrenologists proceeded to show that the function of 
every organ is good in itself, and that evil arises only from 
abuses; that the tendency to commit abuses is, other things 
being equal, in proportion to the excess in size of the organs of 
the lower propensities over those of the moral and intellectual 
faculties ; that the relative proportions of the organs are, to an 
important extent, influenced by the condition of the parents ; 
in short, when the doctrine was stated that human dispositions 
are fundamentally influenced by physiological causes, phre- 
nology began to be suspected and disliked by those who had, 
under the first view of it, regarded it with favor." ^ 

Another prejudice was raised against phrenology, as it was 
thought to teach the doctrine of Materialism, that spirit was 
dependent on organization for its existence ; but as spirit and 
matter are co-eternal, and matter being subservient to spirit, 
we may accurately say, that development is dependent on 
spirit, and substitute, instead of the name Materialism, that of 
Spiritualism. Shakspearc tells us, that " a rose by another 
name smells just as sweet," and as Materialism is so-called 

* Edinburgh Phrenological Journal. 



76 SPIRITUALISM VINDICATED. 

to convey the idea that spirit itself is matter, in contradis- 
tinction to the term Immaterialism, we can safely join hands 
and agree, for we only consider spirit as the moving or acting 
power in nature, and call it by that name, to distinguish it 
from inertia or powerless substance. Mr. George Combe says, 
" A man who believed his soul to be immortal, because it was 
an unchangeable atom in which his self consisted, was irresist- 
ably carried to believe his past, as well as his future immor- 
tality, and therefore, lost all idea of 'person' in connection 
with his soul." As Archbishop Whately well states it, "They 
believed, not their souls, but the substance of their souls, to be 
immortal ; " and, personality being dropped, Pantheism crept 
in, which was nothing but veiled Materialism in its most objec- 
tionable form. Equally clear is it, that the immortality of the 
lowest brutes — a limpet or a fly — perhaps, even that of the 
souls of vegetables, follows from the same reasoning, as may 
be seen, indeed, in Butler's Analogy, and all moral import, in 
a future existence, becomes more than problematical. But the 
very basis of the theory is in direct collision with notorious 
facts. It is pretended that the soul is unchangeable, when we 
have all the proof possible that it changes from day to day, 
and nothing but hardy denial on the other side. And if it be 
ever so immaterial, it still remains, that what had its beginning 
at birth, may have its end at death. In short, no arguments 
on this subject are worth listening to, but such as touch the 
conscience, and turn on moral feelings — on our hopes and 
fears — remorse or aspirations. The doctrine of a life to 
come is worthless for religious purposes, except so far as the 
argument is religious, not physiological or metaphysical. 

One other ground of fear from Materialism is, it derives too 
much countenance from a prevailing doctrine of phrenologists. 
It is supposed that a Materialist must, of course, be a neces- 
sarian, and must deny that man can be justly praised or blam- 
ed, rewarded or punished. We know that a necessarian may, 
with logical consistency, hold that it is right to punish a man, 
as we would whip a dog, merely because experience shows the 



SPIRITUALISM VINDICATED. 77 

efficacy of the motive ; but, although this satisfies the lower 
demands of economics, it by no means meets what we believe 
spiritual religion and sound morality to require. To hold that 
self-reproach and penance is self-delusion, does appear to us a 
grievous and immoral error ; and we regret that the author of 
the "Vestiges of Creation" does not express himself more 
decidedly against it, when he approaches the topic. He dis- 
tinctly recognises the reality of self-control ; and therefore we 
hope, that if he had the opportunity of further explanation, we 
should be satisfied with his view. 

Having said thus much, we may add, that we cannot our- 
selves see any proper connection between the doctrine of Ma- 
terialism and the doctrine of necessity. The latter controversy 
is notoriously an entangled one. Spiritual fatalists are not 
at all rare among contemplative and even devout persons ; and 
so far as we can see, the difficulties in the way of believing in 
human free agency are equally great, and need to be met by 
the very same considerations, in the Immaterialist, as in the 
Materialist theory. No Materialist has any — to argue, that 
as a planet moves without power or self-control, so also must 
the human brain act, if its forces are merely material ones. 
For the pretended analogy would quite as well prove that it 
cannot hope and desire, meditate and reflect, as that it cannot 
act freely upon itself. Into such false analogies those are, 
perhaps, peculiarly apt to fall, who have studied inanimate, 
more than animate or rational nature ; and it is hardly fair to 
ciiarge on Materialism, as such, the errors which arise out 
of an undue encroachment of physiology on the domain of 
morals. ^ 

If Mr. Combe means by soul, that self-conscious principle 
which makes every being the same ; and by person, what we 
would call individuality, which makes all beings different ; or 
individuals, distinct from one another ; then we agree that 
man is immortal by virtue of his soul or self-consciousness, and 

* Materialism and Immaterialism, by George Combe, Esq. 

7* 



78 SPIRITUALISM VINDICATED. 

we believe that personality or individuality must also exist, 
to make a conscious individual being. But if Pantheists dis- 
credit the belief in a self-conscious principle, as the soul of 
matter, and predicate their immortality on individuality alone, 
we are irresistibly led to believe in the immortality of the 
" lowest brute — a limpet or a fly," — even that of the life of 
vegetables. * 

We regret that Mr. Combe, 0. S. Fowler, and other phren- 
ologists, have rejected the doctrine of necessity, and deny that 
phrenology does not tend to establish it as a conclusion irre- 
futable ; and have adopted an intermediate ground between it 
and human free agency. Mr. Combe does not distinctly recog- 
nize the reality of self-control. On what premise can an 
intermediate conclusion between it and the doctrine of necessity 
rest ? Conditions beget action, and without their influence no 
phenomenon is perceived, no action manifested. The philoso- 
phers have traced the act to the existing cause, and here their 
inquiries have stopped ; but had they pushed their investiga- 
tions, they would have found that the existing or moving 
cause was related or connected to a primary cause or impres- 
sion outside of the action, and to deny it as the absolute cause 
on which* the action depended, would be to divorce man from 
the universe and make him independent of it for his existence. 
Our hopes and desires arise from the conditions of our exist- 
ence, and mind acts upon mind in conformity to a law which 
was not created but necessarily existed from all eternity. To 
deny that man thinks, wills, or moves without a cause which is 

* I perceive that Mr. Combe uses the word soul, in the old metaphysical 
sense, as synonymous with life. " And God breathed into him the breath of 
life, and man became a living soul." I use it only as synonymous, with 
self-consciousness, which is interior and underlies all essences, and which 
is the inmost, central, or celestial element, around which spirit, and mind, 
and all principles cluster. When used in respect to individuals, I call it 
personality. It is in this personal image of God, which man is created. 
Old metaphysicians recognize the individuality of man as the image of God, 
in which he (God) created man. This idea is manifestly erroneous, and 
from it sprang the Anthropomorphic dootrine. 



SPIRITUALISM VINDICATED. 79 

in conformity with eternal laws, is to deny in opposition to 
mathematical demonstration. In the universe we live, move, 
and have our being. We live by the conditions brought 
about which are receptive of life ; we move by influences 
or motives operating upon us, and by conditions existing 
within us ; we have our being as a divine induction into the 
higher forms of individualization, which is like all else, sub- 
ject to the eternal laws of its own nature. Freedom and 
independence are inseparable. We cannot be independent 
unless we are free ; nor can we be free without independence. 
From every position in which the universe is perceived, as a 
whole or in its parts, from the lowest degree of existence up 
to Being itself, do we behold the unalterable necessity of all 
things. The superstitious evidence of barbarism, that the 
Jaws of nature have been stayed, and miracles wrought — is in 
opposition to our experience, consequently we cannot admit 
such testimony. I may believe there is such a city as London, 
in England, though I have never seen it, as it is not contrary 
to experience that such might be the case. But to discard our 
own experience and knowledge, and assume the truthfulness of 
ancient testimony, is to admit the retrograde of the universe, 
and to reverse the impressions of our senses. The distinction 
between right and wrong depends, not on the freedom of the 
human will, but on the constitution of our nature. All actions 
are morally right which have the approval of conscientiousness, 
benevolence, etc., enlightened by intellect ; and every action is 
wrong which outrages or offends them. This disapproval is 
caused by antagonism in our nature, which will not cease till 
the lower or animal nature is subjugated by the higher or 
moral nature. It is so from necessity. What I mean by 
necessity is, that which must be and cannot be otherwise. It 
is a necessity that two and two make four; that a whole is 
greater than any of its parts ; that water flows down a decliv- 
ity ; that similar things, under similar circumstances, are 
similarly impressed ; that a connection exists between essence 
and existence. It is also a necessity that a person born under 



80 SPIRITUALISM VINDICATED. 

hereditary influences, and reared amidst them, should in his 
conduct and life, act in conformity thereto. There is no half 
way ground here. If he is addressed and educated in another 
direction than that to which these influences tend, he will act 
in direct ratio to the influences produced, and regulate himself 
in perfect conformity to the balancing influence of this new 
direction to act upon the old, in proportion as two to five, 
three to six, five to seven, etc. It is, as Mr. Combe says : 
" We know that a necessarian may, with logical consistency, 
hold that it is right to punish a man as we would whip a dog, 
merely because experience shows the efficacy of the motive ; 
but, although this satisfies the lower demands of economies, it 
by no means meets what we believe spiritual religion and 
sound morality to require." Too much reliance is placed on 
our perverted feelings, in considering the nature of responsi- 
bility. Certain deeds committed by some, produce indigna- 
tion and revenge in others ; and we are hasty to admit that 
the spirit of revenge presupposes the right to punish, but when 
we perceive that the punishment has no power to redress the 
wrong committed, nor the perpetrator thereof, — what good is 
to come from its infliction ? My attention was particularly 
directed to this subject, by observing a man whose finger had 
been severely bruised by cogs of a machine, which was pro- 
pelled by natural laws. He, by the aid of a bludgeon which 
was near, smashed the machine to atoms. I compared the 
motives in this case, with that of inflicting revenge on human 
nature, and found as much philosophy in the one act as in the 
other. I would not hold, by any means, that self-reproach 
and penitence are self-delusions ; for after the cause which 
produces the excitement and stimulus in Destructiveness, 
Combativeness, or other organs, is removed, and tranquility of 
mind restored, then Conscientiousness sits supreme in her own 
tribunal, and inflicts chastisement according as the nature of 
the case may be. When external authority interferes, further 
than the protection of society from crime, by confining dan- 
gerous and unlawful persons in houses of correction, it is 



SPIRITUALISM VINDICATED. 81 

interfering with individual sovereignty, and becomes no longer 
an instrument of good, but one of tyranny and vice. For there 
is no way of evading the inevitable conclusion, that every 
phenomenon is but the result of necessity ; and to chastise a 
man who has but fulfilled the ends of his inharmonious being, 
is to add insult to injury, and disregard the higher principles 
of justice and right. It is with regret that we behold the 
manner in which the clergy sophistically blend truth with 
error, so as to enable them to harmonize their theologies with 
universal truths, which satiates the minds of those enquirers 
who are endeavoring to arrive at truth. 

The learned divines of Europe who admit the doctrine of 
predestination, have endeavored to justify God in wilfully 
inflicting gfeernal punishment on those of his creatures whom 
he has ordained so to punish, — by admitting the capacity in 
man to determine his own future condition, by a sort of half 
way free agency. Prof. James Buchanan, D. D., L.L. D., 
says in respect to the Christian doctrine of providences : " This 
doctrine affirms, first, the existence and attributes of God, 
as a holy and righteous moral governor ; secondly, the real 
existence and actual operation of second causes, distinct 
from, but not independent of, ' the first cause ; ' thirdly, the 
operation of these causes according to their several natures ; 
so that under God's providences, events fall out, ' either neces- 
sarily, freely, or contingently,' according to the kind of inter- 
mediate agency by which they are brought to pass; and 
fourthly, that in the case of intelligent and moral agents, 
ample room is left for responsible action, and for the consequent 
sentence of praise or blame, reward or punishment, notwith- 
standing the eternal decree of God, and the constant control 
which he exercises over all his creatures and all their ac- 
tions-"^ 

Thus our actions are produced from " second causes," not 
independent of the " First Cause," but rather eventfully fall 

* Theories of Chance and Fate. Modern Atheism. 



82 SPIRITUALISM VINDICATED. 

out of God's providences which he has arranged from all eter- 
nity, " either necessarily, freely, or contingently," hence our 
action as free agents becomes responsible, and we can be justly 
sentenced, praised or blamed, rewarded or punished, notwith- 
standing the eternal decree of God. From all such sophistry, 
Lord deliver us. If God is Omnipotent and possesses all 
power in heaven, earth, stars and hell, whence does man de- 
rive the power to act "freely " ? Where is the line of demar- 
cation between " first " and " second " causes, which makes the 
second responsible and leaves the first unimpeached ? Will 
Dr. Buchanan inform us, or is it one of the ways of God which 
are past finding out ? The false relations in which man, 
through ignorance, has placed himself to the laws of his being, 
has produced in him pain and misery, and theologians assume 
that this state of existence had its origin in Adam's fall, by 
which total depravity was introduced into the world. It is 
apparent to us that depravity has its origin in ignorance ; and 
if all preachers were converted into teachers of common sense, 
we would the sooner get rid of this abomination. Dr. Thomas 
L. Nichols says: "God seems to us to be of necessity self- 
existent, having no maker, and consequently eternal, or without 
beginning. And as we cannot suppose a God eternally idle, or 
alone, or without active manifestation, or life, we are driven 
to the belief in the equal eternity of the universe. The power 
of God seems only bounded by possibilities, principles, and 
laws. God cannot do a thing physically or mathematically 
impossible ; nor a thing wrong or morally impossible ; and he 
seems to be subject to certain laws of progress, in virtue of 
which the world must pass through certain stages of devel- 
opment, before the establishment of entire harmony."* 1 

In endeavoring to prove the efficacy of prayer, and God's 
answering it without working a miracle, or interfering with 
the established order of the universe, they have instituted a 
coctrine which, in natural affairs, would be called paying be- 

* Nichol'g Anthropology. 



SPIRITUALISM VINDICATED. 83 

fore contracting ; or in supernatural things, working a miracle 
before the time ; a creation adapted to suit man's prayers, and 
not man created subservient to the universe. The celebrated 
German philosopher, Euler, in his endeavors to sustain the 
Calvinistic doctrine on philosophic principles, and to harmonize 
it with revelation, is led to say: " That when God established 
the course of the universe, and arranged all the events that 
must come to pass in it, he paid attention to all the circum- 
stances which should accompany each event, and particularly 
to the dispositions, designs, and prayers of every intelligent 
being ; and that the arrangement of all events was disposed 
in perfect harmony with all these circumstances. When, 
therefore, a man addresses to God a prayer worthy to be heard, 
that prayer was already heard from all eternity, and the 
Father of mercies arranged the world expressly in favor of 
that prayer, so that the accomplishment should be a con- 
sequence of the natural course of events. It is thus that God 
answers the prayers of men without working a miracle." 1 * 

There are three doctrines prevalent in our country respect- 
ing the universelum, its creation and government, — the first 
of which is : That God, an Independent and Anthropomorphic 
Being, by an act of his will, created all things, the last of which 
was man, to whom he gave affection and understanding, and 
freedom of existence, that he might follow the dictates of his 
own being ; but that he (God) rules both as a general and 
special providence, and can alter, make, or destroy, just as he 
may be disposed. 

This doctrine is founded on assumption ; there is no testi- 
mony, either experimental or philosophical, which establishes 
such a hypothesis j but the facts and evidences are decidedly 
against it. 

Man, as an independent and free actor, has nothing external 
to the powers that be, and this power is God. In God he 
lives, moves, and derives his power and his being. Not a 

* Euler's Letters on Natural Philosophy. 



84 SPIRITUALISM VINDICATED. 

word is uttered, a muscle moved, or a thought conceived, with- 
out a necessary connection and an inseparable relation to all 
that is in the great universelum. And how insignificant is it 
in thee, man ! to proclaim thyself superior or equal to the 
powers that be; — those powers to which you are so great that 
you stand to them only as a relational being. Man is moved 
by the influences surrounding and in him, as the chaff is moved 
by the four winds of heaven; and, alas! it is sad for him, 
when his animal nature has been excited, stimulated, and 
made to boil like a cauldron, that he, in the fury of his passions, 
desperately rushes into such relation to these powers as 
to cause misery inconceivable, and even sever his earthly 
existence. 

The second doctrine maintains : that God, as an independ- 
ent, personal, Anthropomorphic being, existed from all 
eternity, and did, before the creation of any thing, predestinate 
all things that have been, are, and will be; and by that decree 
all things shall come to pass as was foreseen by Him. The 
doctrine of Calvin was founded in this wise : He recognized 
from his authority, the existence of a personal, independent 
Deity, and, from the same source, he believed, that at death 
all humanity passed into one of two eternal conditions, called 
heaven and hell ; then philosophising on the nature of man, he 
found him a creature of circumstances, who in God lived, 
breathed, and had his existence, and totally incapable of him- 
self to will or to do, only through God's good pleasure: hence 
he could adopt no other conclusion than that God fore-ordained 
all things ; and as we accept the doctrine of eternal happiness 
and eternal misery, and a direct passage into one of these con- 
ditions at death, we are obliged to admit that his disposal of 
us, with all things else, is in accordance with his will and 
pleasure. This doctrine is erroneous ; for to say that God 
fore-ordained or decreed, is to conceive of a time when He 
previously was not, as he afterwards was ; a state of mind 
which desires, wants, and wills; which implies imperfection 
and necessity becomes changeable ; hence, it is contrary to the 



SPIRITUALISM VINDICATED. 85 

doctrine which teaches that He is unchangeable, the same yes- 
terday, to-day, and forever. 

The doctrine of fate is more rational, that all things are so 
from necessity, and cannot be otherwise. Since reason has 
become respectable and is looked upon with some degree of 
favor, theologians have endeavored to establish by its authority, 
the existence of a personal, independent, Anthropomorphic 
being, who created, governs, and rules the world. The great- 
est champion of their ranks is Dr. Paley, who thinks he per- 
ceives in things around him a design ; and as the existence 
of a watch proves the existence of a watchmaker, a picture 
indicates a painter, a house announces an architect ; he insists 
upon this ground of analogy, that design which exists in crea- 
tion around implies a designer, that this designer must be a 
person, and that this person is God. The analogy upon which 
Dr. Paley insists is not sufficient to warrant the existence of a 
similar design in nature as in art, for we conceive of a person 
as an organized being, and did we push the design argument, 
first to prove the existence of an organized person, a God, 
from similar analogy, we might prove an infinite series of such 
organized persons, since one such necessarily pre-suppose 
another, and that again another, and so on ad infinitum. 

The third doctrine is : that spirit and matter are co-equal 
and eternal ; the former exists from the lowest manifestation 
or plane of existence, in series or degrees ; that it expands and 
becomes more universal, step by step, till it ends in a universal 
consciousness, and matter being susceptible to its influence, is 
organized, cast off, and recognised, according as it becomes 
susceptible to induction from the higher degrees of spirit ; and 
thus, by a succession of remodelings, it becomes etherialized 
and refined to that degree which is not perceivable by the 
natural senses, but by the spiritual, in the spheres to which it 
has ascended. 

This doctrine of spiritualism is founded on observation and 
reflection. It is true, we assume the eternity of spirit and 
matter, but this seems to us an axiomatic truth, which is una- 
8 



86 SPIRITUALISM VINDICATED. 

voidable. We can know spirit only by its manifestations 
through matter. It acts by means of a law or principle, whose 
foot-steps we behold in the development and organization of 
the earth, from amorphous matter into form, vegetation, ani- 
mals, and man. Through this series of progression is its action 
apparent, and why should it change when by tireless steps we 
cast off this earthly body ? Its laws exist in scales or degrees, 
rising one above another, each of which has its relations, and 
all things advance or retrograde according to the true or false 
relation which they are in relative to the law of their being or 
existence. Hence it is that good and evil arise out of rela- 
tions, and are purely conditional. 

By exerting ourselves in the most noble qualities which we 
possess, we advance in that direction and become susceptible 
of a higher influence, which allies us to a more elevated and 
refined existence, and in this we see the efficacy of prayer, 
which is a constant aspiration after truth and goodness ; it 
brings us in divine support, and harmonizes our outward being ; 
it overcomes our worldly desires, and seeks for us more ele- 
vated spheres ; it unites us in one noble brotherhood, and 
makes all hearts pulsate in one accord ; it points onward, up- 
ward, heavenward, and prays for the millennial year when sor- 
row and discord are experienced and seen no more. Its 
teachings are elevating, moral, and instructive ; and in the 
conception of an eternal life, consolation is brought home to 
our hearts ; we are elevated in our minds, and pass cheerfully 
through the trying scenes and difficulties which so constantly 
beset us, and with patience wait for the wheels of progress to 
take us into more elevated and congenial spheres. It does not, 
as Christian sects, believe that Psalm-singing and other sup- 
posed religious exercises, on the one hand, or endless wailing 
in a state of perpetual misery, on the other, are the destiny of 
human existence; but progress is its watchword, from misery 
to happiness, from antagonism to harmony, as the tendency of 
all things. 



SPIRITUALISM VINDICATED. 87 

And never will creation rest, 
Till as a whole it is completely blest. 
Purged, by progression's onward step, 
From pain and misery. 

When the days of youth have slowly passed away, and old 
age looks back through the vista of time upon the sorrows and 
felicities of earlier years, and relates the deep impressions of 
early life to friends who have gathered around the evening 
fireside, it causes the cares of life to vanish, by awakening 
higher and nobler feelings ; by gently touching the musical 
chords of the human heart, it causes vibrations of melody, and 
produces contentment, reconciliation, and submission. 

Spiritualism says, submit yourselves to the powers that be, 
for in harmony with them you are happy, otherwise you are 
unhappy. To be infinitely happy we must know ourselves, the 
universe, and our true relations to it, which will beget har- 
mony. Infinity is before us, and in it we expect to translate 
the universe of existence into the universe of consciousness. 
We expect to accomplish this by our own exertions, and cannot 
believe with those 

" Who follow dogmatism and old tradition, 
In stupid ignorance of her heavenly mission 

Ilere below — 
Where sects and creeds have done some temporal good, 
By building temples here of stone and wood, 

To make a show. 

" On earth the flower of truth was crowned with thorns, 
And buffeted, alas ! by hoofs and horns 

Of Satan's clan. 
By priestly power indeed his blood was spilt, 
To cap the climax and to crown the guilt 

Of mortal man. 

" Historians say that Jewish priests 
Were all contented with the blood of beasts 

Before the flood ; 
Then why, I ask, should Protestant and Pope 
Best all their faith and all their hope 

On human blood 1 



88 SPIRITUALISM VINDICATED, 

"One fundamental truth we ean't forget, 
That all mankind are still imperfect yet, 

And so must be, 
Till king, and priests, and peasants all, 
Shall on one common platform fall 

From sophistry. 

" Another truth is made as clear as mud, 
That mankind are depraved who boast of blood 

From shore to shore — 
Who compass sea and land to proselyte, 
And scatter darkness here instead of light, 

Like those of yore." 

Those who believe in immortality only by authority of an- 
cient legends and tradition, must necessarily experience doubt 
and skepticism as to the truth of such records. Their hopes 
are often clouded, and a curtain hangs between them and a 
future existence. A deep silence reigns behind this curtain; 
none has come back from behind, and revealed to them the 
certainty of conscious existence, beyond this veil ; but all they 
can hear from beyond, a hollow echo of this question, Is man 
immortal? as if they shouted in a chasm. Spiritualism, with 
her revelations, ancient and modern, has removed this doubt 
from our minds, and we are possessed of the knowledge of a 
future state of consciousness. No longer does the anatomic 
knife minutely trace the white nervous fibre, the corpus callo- 
sum, and reveal to us no trace of immortality ; no longer does 
cold philosophy impress on us a skepticism, but glorious reve- 
lations in every leaf and every flower. After the third cen- 
tury, spiritual manifestations necessarily ceased, as the human 
mind passed into lustful and inharmonious states ; which barred 
the door of spiritual communion with earth's spheres. It may 
be said, at that time the spiritual became separated from the 
material world by an impassable gulf; yet at different periods 
intercourse between them was visibly certain; but such died 
away before fait philosophers and fast nations; and it was the 
prevalent idea that spiritual and mortal communion had 
ceased with the mission of Jesus and his disciples. Modern 
LofC. 



SPIRITUALISM VINDICATED. 89 

spiritualism may be said to have received its germ from the 
teachings and revelations of Swedenborg, and was quickened 
by those of Andrew Jackson Davis. Since 1845 spiritualism 
has made rapid progress, and has spread to every nation and 
every clime, by the constant energies of its advocates. Those 
who have investigated have been converted; and many, who from 
early training and education, refuse to investigate, are com- 
pelled to admit the plausibility of its doctrines and the truth- 
fulness of its representatives. 

Spiritualism came in an age of causes, that men might re- 
ceive facts on which to predicate conclusions. Founded on 
such data, Buffalo doctors, Harvard professors, with their 
combined sophistry, cannot affect its onward march, nor will it 
cease till the world is subjugated to its teachings. 

It has been denounced as deceptive, demoralizing, and hurt- 
ful ; but what are its lessons ? By requiring us to look within 
ourselves and to study our own nature, it teaches self-control ; 
admonishes us to subdue our passions and lusts, that our hearts 
may be susceptible to higher, purer, and holier influences ; it 
teaches love to our fellow-men, by showing the universal bro- 
therhood, and similarities of our existence, our wants, our de- 
pendences. 

It claims inseparableness of all things ; teaches forbearance ; 
admits rights in others as in self; hence its liberality of senti- 
ment and the superior intelligence of its advocates, for they are 
not afraid to investigate ; they prove all things, and hold fast to 
the good and true. Not like the numerous religious sects 
around us, arrayed in bitter hostility to each other; all of 
whom 

" Grunt and groan, 
And damn all parties but their own." 
No, no ! But toleration, blessed, gentle word, 
Would bring peace, love, and happiness 
To many a distressed home. 

Can a doctrine which has converted thousands and tens of 
thousands to a belief in the immortality of the soul ; which 

8* 



90 SPIRITUALISM VINDICATED. 

teaches us to elevate our fellow men, to inculcate morality by 
fraternal love, be hurtful ? Can an influx of wisdom and 
intelligence from higher and celestial spheres, into the minds of 
earthly beings, be demoralizing ? Can evidences, which are 
perceived by direct observation, and which harmonize with 
every known truth and law in the universe, be deceptive ? 
Answer, ye devotees of authority, and let the echo ring ! 

I have witnessed hundreds of phenomena, and for hours 
conversed with my spirit friends. Their conversations were 
always instructive, affectionate, and pleasing to me ; they gave 
me comfort and consolation ; they gave me wisdom and knowl- 
edge. I hope all others have been similarly impressed. They 
taught me to hope and labor in this world, for its moral eleva- 
tion ; to render my feeble aid in bringing about that condition 
or state of affairs on this earth that was witnessed on the planet 
Saturn, by the young clairvoyant. He says : — " Do you know 
that Saturn is inhabited ? The people there are very different 
from the people on this earth. They are very beautiful and 
more intellectual ; they have very high foreheads, and their 
symmetry is perfect. Their skin is so clear and transparent 
that you can almost see the blood as it circulates through the 
veins. There is no sin there ; they are unacquainted with strife 
and bitterness ; they worship God with willing hearts, all as 
one. There is no sickness there, because they obey the organic 
laws of their nature. They live nine or ten hundred years, and 
die of old age, when the system has worn itself out." I shall 
labor for this end. If I advance this condition even the mil- 
lionth part of an inch, I can happily say that I rendered, at 
least, some aid in bringino; it about : for I would rather have 
humanity shed one tear over my grave, and to say, " Here lies 
a world's Reformer," than to possess the honors of Napoleon, or 
the gold of Astor. 



A NEW AND INTERESTING BOOK, 

BY D. L. DAVIS, M. D. 



BEL A MARSH has just issued from the press an interesting work, 
written by Dr. D. L. Davis, the title of which is, " Anthropomor- 
phism Dissected, and Spiritualism Vindicated." 

Dr. Davis has shown, in this work, the natural tendency of the 
human mind, in its various degrees of development, from the earliest 
period up to the present time ; and how it is that so many different 
theological creeds and opinions have arisen, flourished, and died, and 
are still arising, flourishing, and dying. 

He has reviewed the most celebrated metaphysical writers, in an 
able, logical manner ; — refuted their doctrines, and, in conclusion, 
offers his own convictions, deduced from a careful observation of 
natural phenomena, and the experience of those who have gone 
before him. 

This work is printed on good paper, and well bound, both in paper 
and muslin. Price, single copies, in paper binding, 35 cents, or three 
copies for a dollar ; in muslin, 50 cents per copy. On receipt of the 
price, the book will be sent, postage free. Quantities at wholesale, 
with reasonable discount, sent per order, to any part of the United 
States. 

Address the Publisher, 

BELA MARSH, 

14 Bromfield Street, Boston. 
Or the Author, 

Dr. D. L. DAVIS, 

Cross Anchor, S. C. 



SECTARIANISM AN» ITS CAUSE, 

AN ESSAY. 



By Dr. D. L. DAVIS 



This little work, of 24 pages, endeavors to explain Sectarianism, — 
its leading peculiarities, and the causes of such feelings and opinions 
as produce sects, derived from Physiological and Phrenological 
discoveries. 

It describes, in few words, the dispositions of men, which arise 
from temperaments and mental developments, and why persons of 
different developments think, believe, and act differently. 

Price, single copies, 10 cents; twelve copies for $1.00, free of 
postage. Address, 

Dr. D. L. Davis, 

Cross Anchor, S. C. 



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